The Apocalypse of Peter
An apocalypse (falsely) attributed to Peter that was very popular in the early church, and regarded as Scripture by some churches. It describes torment in hell and reward in heaven as a spur to avoid sin. First half of 2nd c. CE.
(M.R. James translation of the Ethiopic text, excerpted and adapted from http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/apocalypsepeter-mrjames.html)
The Second Coming of Christ and Resurrection of the Dead
(which Christ revealed unto Peter) who died because of their sins, for that
they kept not the commandment of God their creator.
And he (Peter) pondered thereon, that he might perceive the mystery of the
Son of God, the merciful and lover of mercy.
And when the Lord was seated upon the
And we besought and entreated him severally and prayed him, saying unto him:
Declare unto us what are the signs of thy coming and of the end of the world,
that we may perceive and mark the time of thy coming and instruct them that
come after us, unto whom we preach the word of thy gospel, and whom we set over
(in) thy church, that they when they hear it may take heed to themselves and
mark the time of thy coming.
And our Lord answered us, saying: Take heed that no man deceive you, and
that ye be not doubters and serve other gods. Many shall come in my name,
saying: I am the Christ. Believe them not, neither draw near unto them. For the
coming of the Son of God shall not be plain (i.e. foreseen); but as the
lightning that shineth from the east unto the west,
so will I come upon the clouds of heaven with a great host in my majesty; with
my cross going before my face will I come in my majesty, shining sevenfold more
than the sun will I come in my majesty with all my saints, mine angels (mine
holy angels). And my Father shall set a crown upon mine head, that I may judge
the quick and the dead and recompense every man according to his works.
And ye, take ye the likeness thereof (learn a parable)
from the fig-tree: so soon as the shoot thereof is come forth and the twigs
grown, the end of the world shall come.
And I, Peter, answered and said unto him: Interpret unto me concerning the
fig-tree, whereby we shall perceive it; for throughout all its days doth the
fig-tree send forth shoots, and every year it bringeth
forth its fruit for its master. What then meaneth the
parable of the fig-tree? We know it not.
And the Master (Lord) answered and said unto me: … Hast thou not understood
that the fig-tree is the house of
And he showed me in his right hand the souls of all men, And on the palm of
his right hand the image of that which shall be accomplished at the last day:
and how the righteous and the sinners shall be separated, and how they do that
are upright in heart, and how the evil-doers shall be rooted out unto all
eternity. We beheld how the sinners wept (weep) in great affliction and sorrow,
until all that saw it with their eyes wept, whether righteous or angels, and he
himself also.
And I asked him and said unto him: Lord, suffer me to speak thy word
concerning the sinners: It were better for them if
they had not been created. And the Saviour answered
and said unto me: Peter, wherefore speakest thou
thus, that not to have been created were better for them? Thou resistest God. Thou wouldest not
have more compassion than he for his image: for he hath created them and
brought them forth out of not being. Now because thou hast seen the lamentation
which shall come upon the sinners in the last days, therefore is thine heart troubled; but I will show thee their works,
whereby they have sinned against the Most High.
Behold now what shall come upon them in the last days, when the day of God
and the day of the decision of the judgement of God
cometh. From the east unto the west shall all the children of men be gathered
together before my Father that liveth for ever. And he shall command hell to open its bars of adamant
and give up all that is therein.
And the wild beasts and the fowls shall he command to restore all the flesh
that they have devoured, because he willeth that men
should appear; for nothing perisheth before God, and
nothing is impossible with him, because all things are his.
For all things come to pass on the day of decision, on the day of judgement, at the word of God: and as all things were done
when he created the world and commanded all that is therein and it was done
-even so shall it be in the last days; for all things are possible with God.
And therefore saith he in the scripture: [Ezek.
xxxvii.] Son of man, prophesy upon the several bones and say unto the bones:
bone unto bone in joints, sinew. nerves, flesh and
skin and hair thereon [and soul and spirit].
And soul and spirit shall the great Uriel give
them at the commandment of God; for him hath God set over the rising again of
the dead at the day of judgement.
Behold and consider the corns of wheat that are sown in the earth. As things
dry and without soul do men sow them in the earth: and they live again and bear
fruit, and the earth restoreth them as a pledge
entrusted unto it.
How much more shall God raise up on the day of decision them that believe in
him and are chosen of him, for whose sake he made the world? And all things
shall the earth restore on the day of decision, for it also shall be judged
with them, and the heaven with it.
And this shall come at the day of judgement upon
them that have fallen away from faith in God and that have committed sin:
Floods (cataracts) of fire shall be let loose; and darkness and obscurity shall
come up and clothe and veil the whole world and the waters shall be changed and
turned into coals of fire and all that is in them shall burn, and the sea shall
become fire. Under the heaven shall be a sharp fire that cannot be quenched and
floweth to fulfil the judgement of wrath. And the stars shall fly in pieces by
flames of fire, as if they had not been created and the powers (firmaments) of
the heaven shall pass away for lack of water and shall be as though they had
not been. And the lightnings of heaven shall be no
more, and by their enchantment they shall affright the world (probably: The
heaven shall turn to lightning and the lightnings thereof
shall affright the world. The spirits also of the dead bodies shall be like
unto them (the lightnings?) and shall become fire at
the commandment of God.
And so soon as the whole creation dissolveth, the
men that are in the east shall flee unto the west,
Then shall they all behold me coming upon an eternal cloud of brightness:
and the angels of God that are with me shall sit (prob. And I shall sit) upon
the throne of my glory at the right hand of my Heavenly Father; and he shall
set a crown upon mine head. And when the nations behold it, they shall weep,
every nation apart.
Then shall he command them to enter into the river of fire while the works
of every one of them shall stand before them …. As for the elect that have done
good, they shall come unto me and not see death by the
devouring fire. But the unrighteous the sinners, and the hypocrites shall stand
in the depths of darkness that shall not pass away, and their chastisement is
the fire, and angels bring forward their sins and prepare for them a place
wherein they shall be punished for ever (every one according to his
transgression).
Uriel (Urael) the angel
of God shall bring forth the souls of those sinners who perished in the flood …
they shall burn them … in everlasting fire; and after that all of them with
their dwelling places are destroyed, they shall be punished eternally.
(Here begins the description of torments which we have, in another text, in
the Akhmim fragment.)
Then shall men and women come unto the place prepared for them. By their
tongues wherewith they have blasphemed the way of righteousness shall they be
hanged up. There is spread under them unquenchable fire,
that they escape it not. …
And again behold women: they hang them up by their neck and by their hair;
they shall cast them into the pit. These are they which plaited their hair, not
for good but to turn them to fornication, that they might ensnare the souls of
men unto perdition. And the men that lay with them in fornication shall be hung
by their loins in that place of fire; and they shall say one to another: We
knew not that we should come unto everlasting punishment.
And the murderers and them that have made common cause with them shall they
cast into the fire, in a place full of venomous beasts, and they shall be
tormented without rest, feeling their pains; and their worms shall be as many
in number as a dark cloud. And the angel Ezrael shall
bring forth the souls of them that have been slain, and they shall behold the
torment of them that slew them, and say one to another: Righteousness and
justice is the judgement of God. For we heard, but we
believed not, that we should come into this place of eternal judgement.
And near by this flame shall be a pit, great and very deep, and into it floweth from above all manner of torment, foulness, and
issue. And women are swallowed up therein up to their necks and tormented with
great pain. These are they that have caused their children to be born untimely,
and have corrupted the work of God that created them. Over against them shall
be another place where sit their children [both] alive, and they cry unto God.
And flashes (lightnings) go forth from those children
and pierce the eyes of them that for fornication's sake have caused their
destruction.
Other men and women shall stand above them, naked; and their children stand
over against them in a place of delight, and sigh and cry unto God because of
their parents, saying: These are they that have despised and cursed and
transgressed thy commandments and delivered us unto death: they have cursed the
angel that formed us, and have hanged us up, and withheld from us (or,
begrudged us) the light which thou hast given unto all creatures. And the milk
of their mothers flowing from their breasts shall congeal, and from it shall
come beasts devouring flesh, which shall come forth and turn and torment them
for ever with their husbands, because they forsook the commandments of God and
slew their children. As for their children, they shall be delivered unto the
angel Temlakos (i.e. a care-taking angel). And they
that slew them shall be tormented eternally, for God willeth
it so.
Ezrael the angel of wrath shall bring men and
women, the half of their bodies burning, and cast them into a place of
darkness, even the hell of men; and a spirit of wrath shall chastise them with
all manner of torment, and a worm that sleepeth not
shall devour their entrails: and these are the persecutors and betrayers of my
righteous ones.
And beside them that are there, shall be other men and women, gnawing their
tongues; and they shall torment them with red-hot iron and burn their eyes.
These are they that slander and doubt of my righteousness. Other men and women
whose works were done in deceitfulness shall have their lips cut off, and fire entereth into their mouth and their entrails. These are the
false witnesses.
And beside them, in a place near at hand, upon the stone shall be a pillar
of fire, and the pillar is sharper than swords. And there shall be men and
women clad in rags and filthy garments, and they shall be cast thereon, to
suffer the judgement of a torment that ceaseth not: these are they that trusted in their riches
and despised the widows and the woman with fatherless children . . . before
God.
…
Furthermore the angel Ezrael shall bring children
and maidens to show them those that are tormented. They shall be chastised with
pains, with hanging up (?) and with a multitude of wounds which flesh-devouring
birds shall inflict upon them. These are they that boast themselves (trust) in
their sins, and obey not their parents and follow not the instruction of their
fathers, and honour not them that are more aged than
they.
Beside them shall be girls clad in darkness for a garment and they shall be
sore chastised and their flesh shall be torn in pieces. These are they that
kept not their virginity until they were given in marriage, and with these
torments shall they be punished, and shall feel them. …