DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49369#0146
128
ON THE APOCALYPSE OF SEDRACH
ticularly in c. xi., which contains a lamentation uttered by Sedrach
over the various members of his body. As in the case of the
Apocalypse of the Virgin I have tacitly corrected the itacisms,
emended where I could the corruptions, and left the neo-Greek
forms.
Something has already been said of the sources of this little
Apocalypse: in a former publication, referred to above, I have
noted two points in which there are resemblances to the Testa-
ment of Abraham, namely, the intercession for sinners (c. xiv.) and
the reluctance to die (cc. ix.—xi.): mention was also made in the
same place of resemblances to Tischendorf’s Apocalypsis Esdrae,
which, as I have elsewhere done, I propose to call the Apocalypse
of Esdras, in contradistinction to the old and famous Fourth Book
of Esdras. It is now the time to examine some of these resem-
blances in detail; we will take the Apocalypse of Esdras first.
The Apocalypse of Esdras, like that before us, is preserved in
only one copy, likewise a late one (Cod. Par. Gr. 929 of cent. xv.).
The name of the seer is also corrupt in both : ‘Esdram’ and
'Sedrach’ are both of them unfamiliar, the one as a form of
‘Esdras,’ the other as the name of a prophet. These are accidental
resemblances, but they serve to bring the two books together in
so far as they show a similarity of textual history.
Passing to resemblances in language and subject-matter, we
have the following :
Sedrach.
Esdras (p. 24 Tischendorf).
It were better for man that he had not been
born (and pp. 25, 30).
p. 25. Judge me on behalf of the sinners.
Ask...what son pleads against his father.
p. 26. The 1 xelpes al αχραντα^ of God: the
creation of Adam.
p. 27. Number the stars and the sand, etc.
(and p. 28).
p. 31. ‘Whence will ye take my soul?’ and
the whole scene of the reluctance to die:
the word παρακαταθήκη applied to the soul,
etc.
p. 32. A prayer for forgiveness of sins for
those who transcribe the book.
c. iv. init.
c. v. fin.
c. iii. init.
c. iv. init.
c. ix. fin.
cc. ix., x.
c. xvi. fin.
ON THE APOCALYPSE OF SEDRACH
ticularly in c. xi., which contains a lamentation uttered by Sedrach
over the various members of his body. As in the case of the
Apocalypse of the Virgin I have tacitly corrected the itacisms,
emended where I could the corruptions, and left the neo-Greek
forms.
Something has already been said of the sources of this little
Apocalypse: in a former publication, referred to above, I have
noted two points in which there are resemblances to the Testa-
ment of Abraham, namely, the intercession for sinners (c. xiv.) and
the reluctance to die (cc. ix.—xi.): mention was also made in the
same place of resemblances to Tischendorf’s Apocalypsis Esdrae,
which, as I have elsewhere done, I propose to call the Apocalypse
of Esdras, in contradistinction to the old and famous Fourth Book
of Esdras. It is now the time to examine some of these resem-
blances in detail; we will take the Apocalypse of Esdras first.
The Apocalypse of Esdras, like that before us, is preserved in
only one copy, likewise a late one (Cod. Par. Gr. 929 of cent. xv.).
The name of the seer is also corrupt in both : ‘Esdram’ and
'Sedrach’ are both of them unfamiliar, the one as a form of
‘Esdras,’ the other as the name of a prophet. These are accidental
resemblances, but they serve to bring the two books together in
so far as they show a similarity of textual history.
Passing to resemblances in language and subject-matter, we
have the following :
Sedrach.
Esdras (p. 24 Tischendorf).
It were better for man that he had not been
born (and pp. 25, 30).
p. 25. Judge me on behalf of the sinners.
Ask...what son pleads against his father.
p. 26. The 1 xelpes al αχραντα^ of God: the
creation of Adam.
p. 27. Number the stars and the sand, etc.
(and p. 28).
p. 31. ‘Whence will ye take my soul?’ and
the whole scene of the reluctance to die:
the word παρακαταθήκη applied to the soul,
etc.
p. 32. A prayer for forgiveness of sins for
those who transcribe the book.
c. iv. init.
c. v. fin.
c. iii. init.
c. iv. init.
c. ix. fin.
cc. ix., x.
c. xvi. fin.