CHAPTER XXI

While Satan and Hades were talking thus with each other, there came a great voice like thunder, saying, Lift up your gates, O ye rulers, and be ye lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of Glory shall come in." And when Hades heard, he said to Satan, Go forth, if thou art able, and resist him. Therefore Satan went forth. Then saith Hades to his demons, Secure well and firmly the brazen gates, and the iron bars, and hold down my bolts, and stand upright and watch everything: for if he should enter here, woe will seize us.

On hearing these things, the forefathers all began to reproach him, saying, All-devouring and insatiate, open! that the King of Glory may come in. David the prophet saith, Knowest thou not, O blind one, that when I was living in the world I predicted this voice, Lift up your gates, O ye rulers? Isaiah said, Through the Holy Spirit, when I foresaw this, I wrote, The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall be raised, and those who are in the earth shall be glad, And, Where is thy sting, O Death? where is thy victory, O Hades? 10

The voice, therefore, came again, saying, Lift up the gates. Hades, hearing the voice a second time, answered, as forsooth not knowing, and said, Who is this King of Glory? The angels of the Lord said, The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And immediately, at this word, the brazen gates were broken, and the iron bars were crushed, and all the dead that were bound were loosed from their bonds, and we 11 with them. And the King of Glory entered as a man, and all the dark places of Hades were lighted up.

9 Ps. xxiv. 7.

10 Is. xxvi. 19; Hos. xiii. 14.

11 That is, the two sons of Simeon, who are supposed to write the story.

CHAPTER XXII

Hades straightway cried, We are conquered; woe unto us. But who art thou that hast so great authority and power? And what art thou, who comest hither without sin—seeming small, and able to do great things, humble and high, servant and Lord, soldier and king, who hast authority over the dead and the living? Thou wast nailed to the cross, and wast laid in the tomb, and now thou art free, and hast dissolved all our power. Art thou, then, the Jesus, of whom the chief ruler Satan said to us, That through the cross and death thou art about to inherit all the world?

Then the King of Glory seized the chief ruler Satan by the head, and delivered him to the angels, and said, Bind with irons his hands and feet and neck and mouth. Then he delivered him to Hades, and said, Take him and keep him safely until my second coming.

CHAPTER XXIII

And Hades took Satan, and said to him, Beelzebub, inheritor of fire and punishment, enemy of the saints, by what necessity hast thou contrived that the King of Glory should be crucified, that he might come hither and spoil us? Turn and see that none of the dead is left in me; but all that thou didst gain by the tree of knowledge thou hast lost it all by the tree of the cross; and all thy joy is changed into grief; and thou, that didst wish to put to death the King of Glory, hast put thyself to death. For since I have received thee to keep thee safely, thou wilt learn by experience what evils I shall do to thee. O chief devil, the beginning of death, the root of sin, the end of all evil! what evil didst thou find in Jesus, to procure his destruction? How didst thou dare to do so great evil? How didst thou study to bring down to this darkness such a man, through whom thou art deprived of all that ever died?

CHAPTER XXIV

While Hades thus discoursed with Satan, the King of Glory opened his right hand, and took hold of the first father

Adam, and raised him. Then he turned and said to the rest, Come with me all ye who have died through the tree which he touched. For behold, I raise you all up again through the tree of the cross. Moreover, he sent them all out; and the first father Adam appeared, filled with satisfaction, and said, I give thanks unto thy majesty, O Lord, because thou hast brought me from the lowest Hades.12 So also all the prophets and the saints said, We give thee thanks, O Christ, Savior of the world, because thou hast brought back our life from destruction.13

And when they had said these things, the Savior blessed Adam on the forehead with the sign of the cross; and he did this also to the patriarchs and the prophets, and martyrs and forefathers, and took them and sprang up out of Hades. And as he went, the holy fathers followed him, chanting, and saying, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,11 Alleluia: to him be glory from all the saints.

14

CHAPTER XXV

Then He went to Paradise, holding the forefather Adam by the hand, and delivered him, and all the righteous, to the archangel Michael. When, therefore, they entered the gate of paradise, two aged men met them, to whom the holy fathers said, Who are ye, who have not seen death, and have not descended into Hades, but inhabit paradise in body and soul? One of them answering, said, I am Enoch, who pleased God, and was translated hither by him; and this is Elijah the Tishbite; and we are to live until the end of the world: and then we are to be sent by God to resist Antichrist, and to be slain by him, and after three days to rise again, and to be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord.15

CHAPTER XXVI

While they were saying these things there came another lowly man, and bearing a cross upon his shoulders; and the

12 Ps. lxxxvi. 13.

13 Ps. ciii. 4.

14 Ps. cxviii. 26.

151 Thess. iv. 17; Rev. xi. 3-12; 1 John ii. 18; iv. 3.

holy fathers said to him, Who art thou, having the appearance of a robber, and what is the cross which thou bearest upon thy shoulders? He answered, As ye say, I was a robber and a thief in the world, and therefore the Jews seized me and delivered me to the death of the cross, with our Lord Jesus Christ. As he was hanging upon the cross I believed in him, seeing the miracles which were done; and I called upon him, and said, Lord, when thou shalt reign, forget not me. And straightway he said to me, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise. Therefore, bearing my cross I came to paradise, and finding the archangel Michael, I said to him, Our Lord Jesus, who was crucified, hath sent me hither; lead me, therefore, into the gate of Eden. And the flaming sword, seeing the sign of the cross, opened unto me, and I came in. Then saith the archangel to me, Wait a little, for Adam, the forefather of the race of men, is coming with the righteous, that they also may enter in. And now seeing you, I am come to meet you.

On hearing these things, the saints all cried with a loud voice, Great is our Lord, and great is his power. 16

CHAPTER XXVII

All these things we two brothers saw and heard; and we were sent by Michael the archangel, and were appointed to preach the resurrection of the Lord, but first to go to Jordan and be baptized; whither also we went, and were baptized along with other dead who had risen; and afterward we came to Jerusalem, and celebrated the Passover of the resur rection. But now, not being able to remain here, we are going away. And may the love of God and the Father, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.17

When they had written these things, and closed the books, they gave half to the chief priests, and half to Joseph and Nicodemus. And immediately they vanished: unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

16 Ps. cxlvii. 5.

17 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

THE LATIN GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS

OR

THE ACTS OF PILATE1

I, Æneas, was at first a protector of the Hebrews, and a follower of the law; then the Savior's grace and his great gift apprehended me, and I knew Christ Jesus in Holy Scripture, I came to him, and embraced his faith, that I might become worthy of his holy baptism. First of all I sought for the records, written in those times, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Jews published in the age of Pontius Pilate, and we found them in Hebrew writings, drawn up in the age of our Lord Jesus Christ; but I translated them into Gentile speech during the reign of the eminent Theodosius, in his 17th consulship, and Valentinian, the 5th time consul, in the 9th indiction. All ye who read this book, and copy into other documents, be mindful of me, and pray for me, Æneas, the least of the servants of the Lord, that he may be merciful to me, and forgive my sins which I have committed against him. Peace be to all who read these things, and to all their house forever. Amen.

Now it came to pass in the 19th year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Emperor of the Romans, and of Herod, the son of Herod, King of Galilee, the 19th year of his dominion, on the 8th of the kalends of April, which is the 25th day of the month of March in the consulate of Rufinus and Rubellio, in the 4th year of the 202d Olympiad, under the chief priests of the Jews, Joseph and Caiaphas: the great things done by the chief priests and the other Jews, which Nicodemus recorded after the cross and passion of the Lord, and which Nicodemus himself committed to Hebrew writing.

1 This is a late Latin form of Nicodemus, which devotes these preliminary chapters to Pilate.