The Repose of Saint John the Evangelist and Apostle 2

The Coptic (Sahidic) account of the death of John the apostle at Ephesus, in British Museum MS. Oriental 6782, a manuscript dated AD 990; author unknown. It is a later form of the ending of the Acts of John (the Metastasis), which also stands in this corpus in M. R. James's English. On the first day of the week John exhorts the brethren, prays, gives thanks over the bread and breaks it with them, then goes out of the city with two young men, has a deep grave dug among the tombs, prays a long prayer of thanksgiving for having been kept pure, and lies down in it, dismissing the brethren. On the morrow they find only his sandal and the dug earth, and remember the Lord's word to Peter about John (John 21:22). 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. Chapters are the leaves of the manuscript (folios 2 to 8; leaf 7 falls inside John's prayer and has no paragraph of its own), and verses are Budge's paragraphs. Not part of any church's canon.

1The blessed John was in Ephesus with the brethren, rejoicing in the Lord. Now on the first day of the week all the brethren were gathered together, and John began to speak to them, saying, 'My brethren, my fellow heirs, and my partners in the Christ Jesus, our Lord, know ye that unto you hath the Lord given from His hand power, [and] that He hath wrought for you very many mighty works, and miracles, and acts of grace. And ye know of what kind are the teachings, and the guiding directions, and the refreshing, and the service, and the gracious acts, and the gifts, and all the other things which ye see with your eyes, which are given unto you from the hand of our Master. He hath never made Himself manifest unto you through the eyes of the body, neither have ye hearkened unto Him through the ears of the body, but He hath made Himself visible unto you through the integrity of your heart, and by visions, and by works which are holy. Strengthen ye yourselves, then, in Him, and ye shall remember Him at all times; moreover, ye shall also remember the mystery and the association (or, partnership) which hath come unto you, and which our Lord hath fulfilled.

2'And now, O brethren, He maketh supplication to you through Himself, and He appealeth unto you, wishing to make you to cease to grieve Him overmuch, or to despise Him, or to conspire against Him, for He knoweth the despising which taketh place through you. He knoweth also the reviling, and He hath knowledge of the treachery, and the punishment wherewith ye punish Him. When ye shall hearken unto His holy commandment to obey it, He will shew compassion upon you. Do not make to grieve through you the Good God, the Merciful, the Long-suffering, Him Who is without spot, Him Who is without blemish, the Ineffable, the God Who is One alone, the Unchanging One, Him Who is without guile, Him Who is without wrath, the Name which is above every name which men can comprehend. Let Him but rejoice with you, and ye enjoy free and happy citizenship with Him. Let Him but have gladness with you, and ye live in happiness and innocency. Let Him but repose in your hearts, and ye are turned into beings who rejoice in holiness of life. Let Him but shew Himself unmindful of you, and ye must live in painful restraint. Let Him but have pleasure [in you], and ye become participators in good things and in the things which are offered [to Him]. Let Him but live delicately, and ye love Him. Let Him but laugh, and ye become ready [to follow Him].