The Gospel (Questions) of Bartholomew 1

Attributed to the apostle Bartholomew; author unknown. The Questions of Bartholomew survives in Greek, Latin and Slavonic, each in a different and probably not original form, and is thought to have been composed in the 3rd century AD or a little later. In a series of dialogues between the apostles and the risen Christ it treats Christ's descent into Hades and the rescue of Adam, Mary's account of the Annunciation, the sight of the abyss, the devil called up and made to confess how he fell and how he tempts, and the gravest sins. This translation follows James's composite text, kept in his five parts.

1After the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ, Bartholomew came unto the Lord and questioned him, saying: Lord, reveal unto me the mysteries of the heavens.

2Jesus answered and said unto him: If I put off the body of the flesh, I shall not be able to tell them unto thee.

4Bartholomew therefore drew near unto the Lord and said: I have a word to speak unto thee, Lord.

5And Jesus said to him: I know what thou art about to say; say then what thou wilt, and I will answer thee.

6And Bartholomew said: Lord, when thou wentest to be hanged upon the cross, I followed thee afar off and saw thee hung upon the cross, and the angels coming down from heaven and worshipping thee. And when there came darkness,

7I beheld, and I saw thee that thou wast vanished away from the cross and I heard only a voice in the parts under the earth, and great wailing and gnashing of teeth on a sudden. Tell me, Lord, whither wentest thou from the cross?

8And Jesus answered and said: Blessed art thou, Bartholomew, my beloved, because thou sawest this mystery, and now will I tell thee all things whatsoever thou askest me.

9For when I vanished away from the cross, then went I down into Hades that I might bring up Adam and all them that were with him, according to the supplication of Michael the archangel.

See also: 1 Peter 3:19

10Then said Bartholomew: Lord, what was the voice which was heard?

11Jesus saith unto him: Hades said unto Beliar: As I perceive, a God cometh hither.

16And Beliar said unto Hades: Look carefully who it is that, for it is Elias, or Enoch, or one of the prophets that this man seemeth to me to be. But Hades answered Death and said: Not yet are six thousand years accomplished. And whence are these, O Beliar; for the sum of the number is in mine hands.

18Be not troubled, make safe thy gates and strengthen thy bars: consider, God cometh not down upon the earth.

19Hades saith unto him: These be no good words that I hear from thee: my belly is rent, and mine inward parts are pained: it cannot be but that God cometh hither. Alas, whither shall I flee before the face of the power of the great king? Suffer me to enter into myself: for before thee was I formed.

20Then did I enter in and scourged him and bound him with chains that cannot be loosed, and brought forth thence all the patriarchs and came again unto the cross.

21Bartholomew saith unto him: Tell me, Lord, who was he whom the angels bare up in their hands, even that man that was very great of stature?

22Jesus answered and said unto him: It was Adam the first-formed, for whose sake I came down from heaven upon earth. And I said unto him: I was hung upon the cross for thee and for thy children's sake. And he, when he heard it, groaned and said: So was thy good pleasure, O Lord.

23Again Bartholomew said: Lord, I saw the angels ascending before Adam and singing praises.

24But one of the angels which was very great, above the rest, would not ascend up with them: and there was in his hand a sword of fire, and he was looking steadfastly upon thee only.

28And when he had thus spoken, he said unto the apostles: Tarry for me in this place, for today a sacrifice is offered in paradise.

29And Bartholomew answered and said unto Jesus: Lord, what is the sacrifice which is offered in paradise? And Jesus said: There be souls of the righteous which to-day have departed out of the body and go unto paradise, and unless I be present they cannot enter into paradise.

30And Bartholomew said: Lord, how many souls depart out of the world daily? Jesus saith unto him: Thirty thousand.

31Bartholomew saith unto him: Lord, when thou wast with us teaching the word, didst thou receive the sacrifices in paradise? Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily I say unto thee, my beloved, that I both taught the word with you and continually sat with my Father, and received the sacrifices in paradise everyday.

32Bartholomew answered and said unto him: Lord, if thirty thousand souls depart out of the world every day, how many souls out of them are found righteous? Jesus saith unto him: Hardly fifty three my beloved.

33Again Bartholomew saith: And how do three only enter into paradise? Jesus saith unto him: The fifty three enter into paradise or are laid up in Abraham's bosom: but the others go into the place of the resurrection, for the three are not like unto the fifty.

34Bartholomew saith unto him: Lord, how many souls above the number are born into the world daily? Jesus saith unto him: One soul only is born above the number of them that depart.

35And when he had said this he gave them the peace, and vanished away from them.