Apocryphon of James.pdf

The Apocryphon of James

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The Apocryphon of James

Translated by Francis E. Williams

James writes to [...]: Peace be with you from Peace, love from Love, grace from Grace, faith

from Faith, life from Holy Life!

Since you asked that I send you a secret book which was revealed to me and Peter by the

Lord, I could not turn you away or gainsay (?) you; but I have written it in the Hebrew alphabet

and sent it to you, and you alone. But since you are a minister of the salvation of the saints,

endeavor earnestly and take care not to rehearse this text to many - this that the Savior did not

wish to tell to all of us, his twelve disciples. But blessed will they be who will be saved through

the faith of this discourse.

I also sent you, ten months ago, another secret book which the Savior had revealed to me.

Under the circumstances, however, regard that one as revealed to me, James; but this one ...

[untranslatable fragments]

... the twelve disciples were all sitting together and recalling what the Savior had said to each

one of them, whether in secret or openly, and putting it in books - But I was writing that which

was in my book - lo, the Savior appeared, after departing from us while we gazed after him.

And five hundred and fifty days since he had risen from the dead, we said to him, "Have you

departed and removed yourself from us?" But Jesus said, "No, but I shall go to the place from

whence I came. If you wish to come with me, come!"

They all answered and said, "If you bid us, we come."

He said, "Verily I say unto you, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven at my bidding, but

(only) because you yourselves are full. Leave James and Peter to me, that I may fill them." And

having called these two, he drew them aside and bade the rest occupy themselves with that

which they were about.

The Savior said, "You have received mercy ...

(7 lines missing)

Do you not, then, desire to be filled? And your heart is drunken; do you not, then, desire to be

sober? Therefore, be ashamed! Henceforth, waking or sleeping, remember that you have seen

the Son of Man, and spoken with him in person, and listened to him in person. Woe to those

who have seen the Son of Man; blessed will they be who have not seen the man, and they who

have not consorted with him, and they who have not spoken with him, and they who have not

listened to anything from him; yours is life! Know, then, that he healed you when you were ill,

that you might reign. Woe to those who have found relief from their illness, for they will relapse

into illness. Blessed are they who have not been ill, and have known relief before falling ill; yours

is the kingdom of God. Therefore, I say to you, 'Become full, and leave no space within you

empty, for he who is coming can mock you."

Then Peter replied, "Lo, three times you have told us, 'Become full'; but we are full."

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The Apocryphon of James

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The Savior answered and said, "For this cause I have said to you, 'Become full,' that you may

not be in want. They who are in want, however, will not be saved. For it is good to be full, and

bad to be in want. Hence, just as it is good that you be in want and, conversely, bad that you be

full, so he who is full is in want, and he who is in want does not become full as he who is in want

becomes full, and he who has been filled, in turn attains due perfection. Therefore, you must be

in want while it is possible to fill you, and be full while it is possible for you to be in want, so that

you may be able to fill yourselves the more. Hence, become full of the Spirit, but be in want of

reason, for reason <belongs to> the soul; in turn, it is (of the nature of) soul."

But I answered and said to him, "Lord, we can obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our

fathers and our mothers and our villages, and followed you. Grant us, therefore, not to be

tempted by the devil, the evil one."

The Lord answered and said, "What is your merit if you do the will of the Father and it is not

given to you from him as a gift while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by

Satan, and persecuted, and you do his (i.e., the Father's) will, I say that he will love you, and

make you equal with me, and reckon you to have become beloved through his providence by

your own choice. So will you not cease loving the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do

you not know that you have yet to be abused and to be accused unjustly; and have yet to be

shut up in prison, and condemned unlawfully, and crucified <without> reason, and buried as I

myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the Spirit is an encircling

wall? If you consider how long the world existed <before> you, and how long it will exist after

you, you will find that your life is one single day, and your sufferings one single hour. For the

good will not enter into the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life! Remember

my cross and my death, and you will live!"

But I answered and said to him, "Lord, do not mention to us the cross and death, for they are

far from you."

The Lord answered and said, "Verily, I say unto you, none will be saved unless they believe in

my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the kingdom of God. Therefore,

become seekers for death, like the dead who seek for life; for that which they seek is revealed

to them. And what is there to trouble them? As for you, when you examine death, it will teach

you election. Verily, I say unto you, none of those who fear death will be saved; for the

kingdom belongs to those who put themselves to death. Become better than I; make yourselves

like the son of the Holy Spirit!"

Then I asked him, "Lord, how shall we be able to prophesy to those who request us to

prophesy to them? For there are many who ask us, and look to us to hear an oracle from us."

The Lord answered and said, "Do you not know that the head of prophecy was cut off with

John?"

But I said, "Lord, can it be possible to remove the head of prophecy?"

The Lord said to me, "When you come to know what 'head' means, and that prophecy issues

from the head, (then) understand the meaning of 'Its head was removed.' At first I spoke to you

in parables, and you did not understand; now I speak to you openly, and you (still) do not

perceive. Yet, it was you who served me as a parable in parables, and as that which is open in

the (words) that are open.

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The Apocryphon of James

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"Hasten to be saved without being urged! Instead, be eager of your own accord, and, if

possible, arrive even before me; for thus the Father will love you."

"Come to hate hypocrisy and the evil thought; for it is the thought that gives birth to hypocrisy;

but hypocrisy is far from truth."

"Do not allow the kingdom of heaven to wither; for it is like a palm shoot whose fruit has

dropped down around it. They (i.e., the fallen fruit) put forth leaves, and after they had

sprouted, they caused their womb to dry up. So it is also with the fruit which had grown from

this single root; when it had been picked (?), fruit was borne by many (?). It (the root) was

certainly good, (and) if it were possible for you to produce the new plants now, <you> would

find it."

"Since I have already been glorified in this fashion, why do you hold me back in my eagerness to

go? For after the labor, you have compelled me to stay with you another eighteen days for the

sake of the parables. It was enough for some <to listen> to the teaching and understand 'The

Shepherds' and 'The Seed' and 'The Building' and 'The Lamps of the Virgins' and 'The Wage of

the Workmen' and the 'Didrachmae' and 'The Woman.'"

"Become earnest about the word! For as to the word, its first part is faith; the second, love; the

third, works; for from these comes life. For the word is like a grain of wheat; when someone

had sown it, he had faith in it; and when it had sprouted, he loved it, because he had seen many

grains in place of one. And when he had worked, he was saved, because he had prepared it for

food, (and) again he left (some) to sow. So also can you yourselves receive the kingdom of

heaven; unless you receive this through knowledge, you will not be able to find it."

"Therefore, I say to you, be sober; do not be deceived! And many times have I said to you all

together, and also to you alone, James, have I said, 'Be saved!' And I have commanded you to

follow me, and I have taught you what to say before the archons. Observe that I have

descended and have spoken and undergone tribulation, and carried off my crown after saving

you. For I came down to dwell with you, so that you in turn might dwell with me. And, finding

your houses unceiled, I have made my abode in the houses that could receive me at the time of

my descent."

"Therefore, trust in me, my brethren; understand what the great light is. The Father has no need

of me, - for a father does not need a son, but it is the son who needs the father - though I go to

him. For the Father of the Son has no need of you."

"Hearken to the word, understand knowledge, love life, and no one will persecute you, nor will

anyone oppress you, other than you yourselves."

"O you wretches; O you unfortunates; O you pretenders to the truth; O you falsifiers of

knowledge; O you sinners against the Spirit: can you still bear to listen, when it behooved you to

speak from the first? Can you still bear to sleep, when it behooved you to be awake from the

first, so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you? Verily, I say unto you, had I been sent to

those who listen to me, and had I spoken with them, I would never have come down to earth.

So, then, be ashamed for these things."

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The Apocryphon of James

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"Behold, I shall depart from you and go away, and do not wish to remain with you any longer,

just as your yourselves have not wished it. Now, therefore, follow me quickly. This is why I say

unto you, 'For your sakes I came down.' You are the beloved; you are they who will be the

cause of life in many. Invoke the Father, implore God often, and he will give to you. Blessed is

he who has seen you with Him when He was proclaimed among the angels, and glorified among

the saints; yours is life. Rejoice, and be glad, as sons of God. Keep his will, that you may be

saved; accept reproof from me and save yourselves. I intercede on your behalf with the Father,

and he will forgive you much."

And when we had heard these words, we became glad, for we had been grieved at the words

we have mentioned before. But when he saw us rejoicing, he said, "Woe to you who lack an

advocate! Woe to you who stand in need of grace! Blessed will they be who have spoken out

and obtained grace for themselves. Liken yourselves to foreigners; of what sort are they in the

eyes of your city? Why are you disturbed when you cast yourselves away of your own accord

and separate yourselves from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own

accord, making it ready for those who want to dwell in it? O you outcasts and fugitives, woe to

you, for you will be caught! Or do you perhaps think that the Father is a lover of mankind, or

that he is won over without prayers, or that he grants remission to one on another's behalf, or

that he bears with one who asks? - For he knows the desire, and also what it is that the flesh

needs! - (Or do you think) that it is not this (flesh) that desires the soul? For without the soul,

the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved

(when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it

is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself.

Verily, I say unto you, he will not forgive the soul the sin by any means, nor the flesh the guilt;

for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you think that many have found

the kingdom of heaven? Blessed is he who has seen himself as a fourth one in heaven!"

When we heard these words, we were distressed. But when he saw that we were distressed, he

said, "For this cause I tell you this, that you may know yourselves. For the kingdom of heaven is

like an ear of grain after it had sprouted in a field. And when it had ripened, it scattered its fruit

and again filled the field with ears for another year. You also, hasten to reap an ear of life for

yourselves, that you may be filled with the kingdom!"

"And as long as I am with you, give heed to me, and obey me; but when I depart from you,

remember me. And remember me because when I was with you, you did not know me. Blessed

will they be who have known me; woe to those who have heard and have not believed! Blessed

will they be who have not see, yet have believed!"

"And once more I prevail upon you, for I am revealed to you building a house which is of great

value to you when you find shelter beneath it, just as it will be able to stand by your neighbors'

house when it threatens to fall. Verily, I say unto you, woe to those for whose sakes I was sent

down to this place; blessed will they be who ascend to the Father! Once more I reprove you,

you who are; become like those who are not, that you may be with those who are not."

"Do not make the kingdom of heaven a desert within you. Do not be proud because of the light

that illumines, but be to yourselves as I myself am to you. For your sakes I have placed myself

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under the curse, that you may be saved."

But Peter replied to these words and said, "Sometimes you urge us on to the kingdom of

heaven, and then again you turn us back, Lord; sometimes you persuade and draw us to faith

and promise us life, and then again you cast us forth from the kingdom of heaven."

But the Lord answered and said to us, "I have given you faith many times; moreover, I have

revealed myself to you, James, and you (all) have not known me. Now again, I see you

rejoicing many times; and when you are elated at the promise of life, are you yet sad, and do

you grieve, when you are instructed in the kingdom? But you, through faith and knowledge,

have received life. Therefore, disdain the rejection when you hear it, but when you hear the

promise, rejoice the more. Verily, I say unto you, he who will receive life and believe in the

kingdom will never leave it, not even if the Father wishes to banish him."

"These are the things that I shall tell you so far; now, however, I shall ascend to the place from

whence I came. But you, when I was eager to go, have cast me out, and instead of

accompanying me, you have pursued me. But pay heed to the glory that awaits me, and, having

opened your heart, listen to the hymns that await me up in the heavens; for today I must take

(my place at) the right hand of the Father. But I have said (my) last word to you, and I shall

depart from you, for a chariot of spirit has borne me aloft, and from this moment on, I shall strip

myself, that I may clothe myself. But give heed; blessed are they who have proclaimed the Son

before his descent, that when I have come, I might ascend (again). Thrice blessed are they who

were proclaimed by the Son before they came to be, that you might have a portion among

them."

Having said these words, he departed. But we bent (our) knee(s), I and Peter, and gave thanks,

and sent our heart(s) upwards to heaven. We heard with our ears, and saw with our eyes, the

noise of wars, and a trumpet blare, and a great turmoil.

And when we had passed beyond that place, we sent our mind(s) farther upwards, and saw

with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns, and angelic benedictions, and angelic rejoicing.

And heavenly majesties were singing praise, and we, too, rejoiced.

After this again, we wished to send our spirit upward to the Majesty, and after ascending, we

were not permitted to see or hear anything, for the other disciples called us and asked us, "What

did you hear from the Master. And what has he said to you? And where did he go?"

But we answered them, "He has ascended, and has given us a pledge, and promised life to us

all, and revealed to us children (?) who are to come after us, after bidding us love them, as we

would be saved for their sakes."

And when they heard (this), they indeed believed the revelation, but were displeased about

those to be born. And so, not wishing to give them offense, I sent each one to another place.

But I myself went up to Jerusalem, praying that I might obtain a portion among the beloved,

who will be made manifest.

And I pray that the beginning may come from you, for thus I shall be capable of salvation, since

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