My LORD’s BibleThe Mysteries of Saint John the Apostle and Holy Virgin 1
A Coptic (Sahidic) apocalypse in British Museum MS. Oriental 7026, a manuscript dated AD 1006; author and date of composition unknown. The 'Holy Virgin' of the title is John himself, not Mary, as Budge notes. After the Resurrection the apostles are gathered on the Mount of Olives; at John's request a great Cherub, full of eyes, carries him through the heavens and answers his questions: the twelve rulers of the year and Michael's intercession for the waters, the fountain of dew and the Angel of Wrath whose tears of blood Michael wipes away, how the Father gave Adam the first grain of wheat from His own body, the tree of Paradise and Adam's lost glory, Eve hidden in Adam's rib, Solomon's book of remedies and Hezekiah's prayer, the hours, the stars and the souls of men and beasts. This is E. A. Wallis Budge's English in Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (British Museum, 1913); his notes are not reproduced, except that his gloss on 'Edem' and one Coptic star-name stand in the text as he prints them. Chapters are the leaves of the manuscript (folios 1 to 20), and verses are Budge's paragraphs. Not part of any church's canon.
1And it came to pass that when the Saviour had risen from the dead, He came on to the Mount of Olives, and sat down. And He made a cloud to envelop all the countries wherein were the Apostles, and it gathered them together into the presence of the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives. And John answered and said unto the Saviour, 'My Lord, behold Thou didst say unto me: Thou art My beloved one, and thou hast found grace before Me. Now therefore, my Lord, I wish Thee to take me into heaven, and shew me all [the mysteries] so that I may know them.' And the Saviour made answer and said unto him, 'John, enquire thou of Me fully, and I on My part will hide nothing from thee. Rise up, and let us pray to My Father, Who is blessed, and He shall hear us.'
See also: Acts 1:12
2Then the Saviour and the Apostle [John] rose up, and He prayed a long, blessed prayer. And when He had said (literally, given) the Amen, the heavens moved away upon this side and on that, and they opened out one beyond the other even to the seventh heaven. And behold, a great Cherubim came out from heaven, and the whole place shone with bright light, and the whole of his body was full of eyes, and flashes of lightning shot out from him.