Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
According to Thaddaeus
A number of years back, I got interested in trying to put myself "inside"
the heads of the gospel writers. I also wanted to brush the "sawdust of
the classroom" off of what I'd learned in the field of biblical studies.
The Gospel of Thaddaeus. Copyright ©2004 by Yu. Grigoriev. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America by special arrangement with the University of
St. Petersburg. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews. For information address the University of St. Petersburg
Press, 1423 Ul. Yeltsin, St. Petersburg AK5230, Russian Federation. Published
simultaneously in the United Kingdom by the University of London, and in Russia by the
University of St. Petersburg.
Table of Contents
Foreword
According to Thaddaeus
I. Introduction
II. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee
III. The Sermon on the Lake
IV. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued
V. The Way to the Cross
VI. The Journey to Jerusalem
VII. The Ministry in Jerusalem
VIII. The Passion Narrative
IX. The Resurrection
Foreword <top>
While field work is still in progress, we are pleased to make available this
English translation of the critical Greek text of the Gospel of Thaddaeus.
A project such as this one does not approach completion without help
from divers sources, to whom sincere thanks are due.
My thanks go first and foremost to Max Turner of the University of
Chicago, and Vanessa James of the University of London, for their most
gracious invitation to join in the work on site at Edessa, and for their
unflagging support. I owe thanks also to my colleagues at the University
of St. Petersburg, especially I.N. Nekrich, Aleksandr Plekhanov, and
Sergei Shelepin, for extending to me on very short notice this year of
sabbatical leave. Special thanks go to my graduate assistant, Natasha
Ivanovna: she has rendered on-site help on a multitude of points, only
the most obvious of which is her revision of my translation into English
which is at once colloquial and in conformity with the RSV of the synoptic
parallels.
--Yu. Grigoriev
According to Thaddaeus
I. Introduction <top>
Preface
1 The book of Jesus the Nazarene, the Christ of God. 2As it is written in
1
the scriptures, "Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? Who has
wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has dominion of all the ends
of the earth? 3What is his name? Or what is his son's name? For God
delivers the one who reverences him."
The Temptation
24
Then the Spirit took him out, as if by the hairs of his head, and brought
him out onto the great Mount Tabor. 25And he was there forty days and
forty nights, being tempted by Satan; and the angels ministered to him.
II. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee <top>
into Galilee. 2And there he preached the Good News of the kingdom of
God, saying, "Repent; for the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is
at hand."
teaching there. And there came before him a prostitute whose name was
Mary, who had seven unclean spirits. 2And crying out with a loud voice,
she said to him, "O Son of man, what have you to do with us?" 3And
Jesus rebuked the unclean spirits, saying, "Pukou minnah," that is,
"Come out of her!" And the unclean spirits were cast out of her and left
her. 4Now, this Mary of Magdala became one of the women who followed
after Jesus.
The Cleansing of the Leper
5
Now while he was in one of the cities, a leper came to him beseeching
him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."
6
And Jesus got angry and stretched out his hand and touched him, and
said to him, "I will; be clean." 7And immediately the leprosy left him, and
he was made clean. 8And he sternly charged him, and threw him out at
once, and said to him, "Say nothing to any one; 9but go, show yourself to
the priest, and offer the gift for your cleansing as Moses commanded, for
a proof to the people." 10But he went out and began to talk freely about
it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a
town, but was out in the country; 11and they came together to him, and
he returned to Capernaum.
Gennesaret, and there gathered about him many people from Galilee,
and from Judea and Jerusalem and from about Tyre and Sidon, 2for they
came to him to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. 3And he told
his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, for they
pressed upon him that they might hear the word of God and that power
might come forth from him upon them. 4And getting into the boat, he
asked the disciples to put out a little from the land. 5And he sat down,
and from the boat he taught the crowd which was beside the lake upon
the land, and in his teaching he said to them:
The Beatitudes
6
"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 7But woe to you
that are rich, for you have received your consolation. 8Blessed are you
that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. 9But woe to you that are full
now, for you shall hunger. 10Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall
laugh. 11But woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
12
Blessed are you who serve as slaves now, for you shall rule in
righteousness. 13But woe to you who hold dominion now, for you shall be
brought down. 14Blessed shall you be when men hate you, and when they
revile you and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!
15
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven;
for so their fathers did to the prophets. 16But woe to you, when all men
speak well of you! Cry out, and call to the mountains to fall and cover
you; for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
On Judging
29
"Show mercy that you may receive mercy; forgive that it may be
forgiven unto you. 30As you judge so shall you be judged; and as you are
kind so shall kindness be done to you. 31For the measure you give will be
the same measure you get back, and still more will be given you." 32And
he told them parables. "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not
both fall into a pit? 33A disciple is not above his teacher, but let him when
he is fully taught be like his teacher. 34How can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when behold, there is a
log in your own eye? 35You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own
eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your
brother's eye.
Healings at Gennesaret
5 And after he had said all these things, the people were amazed. And
1
he got out of the boat. 2And they brought sick people on their pallets to
him, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of his
garment; and as many as touched it were made well. 3And the unclean
spirits fell down before him and cried out; and he strictly ordered them
not to make him known, for they knew him to be the Son of God.
Gergesenes. 2And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out
of the tombs a man from the city with an unclean spirit, 3who lived
among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a
chain; 4for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the
chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces, and he was
driven by the unclean spirit into the desert. 5And when he saw Jesus
from afar, he ran and fell down and worshiped him; 6and said with a loud
voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I
adjure you by God, do not torment me." 7For he had said to him, "Come
out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 8And Jesus asked him, "What is your
name?" And he replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 9And they
begged him not to send them out of the country. 10Now a great herd of
swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him, "Send us
to the swine, let us enter them." 11So he gave them leave. And the
unclean spirits came out of the man and entered the swine; and the
herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into
the lake, and were drowned. 12When the herdsmen saw it, they fled, and
told it in the city and in the country. And people went out to see what
had happened. 13And they came to Jesus, and saw the man who had had
the legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind; and they were
afraid. 14And those who had seen it told what had happened to the
demoniac and to the swine. 15And they urged Jesus to depart from their
neighborhood, for they were seized with great fear. 16And as he was
getting into the boat, the man from whom the unclean spirits had gone
begged that he might be with him. 17But he refused, and said to him, "Go
home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for
you." 18And he went away, proclaiming throughout the Decapolis how
much Jesus had done for him.
unclean spirits, and power to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to
preach the kingdom of God and to heal. 3And he charged them saying,
"Take nothing for your journey except a staff; no bread, nor bag, nor
money; but wear sandals and do not put on two tunics. 4And wherever
you enter a house, stay there until you leave a place. 5And wherever they
refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust from your feet as
a testimony against them; 6and it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah
at the last day than for that town." 7So they went out two by two through
the villages and preached repentance. 8And they cast out many demons,
and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.
Peter's Confession
And Jesus went on with his disciples to Caesarea Philippi; and on the
18
way he asked them, "Who do men say that I am?" 19And they answered
him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, like one of the
prophets." 20And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" And
Peter answered him, "You are the Christ of God." 21And he charged them
to tell this to no one.
The Transfiguration
31
And six days after this, Jesus took with him Cephas and the sons of
Zebedee, and led them up onto a great mountain in Galilee. 32And when
they had come to the top, he was transfigured brightly before them, and
his garments became blinding, shining white, so that they were stricken
with terror. 33And behold, two men stood in glory on the mountain,
talking with Jesus. 34And Cephas, turning about in fear, said to Jesus,
"Rabbi, it is well that we are here; let three booths be set up, one for you
and one for each of these men." 35And then a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, "This is my beloved Son, who
shall reign on earth as in heaven; listen to him!" 36And then they saw
Jesus only standing with them; and they asked him, "Were these angels
with whom you were talking?" 37And he said to them, "No, but Moses and
Elijah were manifest here to bear witness to the Son of man for your
sake; for I am come to fulfill in my witness all the law and the prophets."
And in those days they feared greatly, and told no one what they had
38
seen; for Jesus said to them, "Do not speak about this until the Son of
man rises from the dead."
first Elijah must come?" 2And he answered and said to them, "If Elijah
comes first to restore all things, of the Son of man it is written that he
should suffer many things and be treated with contempt. 3But I tell you
that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is
written of him."
Decision to Go to Jerusalem
10 And knowing that the season had drawn near for him to be handed
1
On Following Jesus
7
As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you
wherever you go." 8And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds
of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
9
To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and
bury my father." 10But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own
dead; but as for you, follow me." 11Another said, "I will follow you, Lord;
but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 12Jesus said to him,
"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the
kingdom of God." 13And after this, Jesus said to his disciples, "Do you not
see? Many are near the well, but few are in the well. 14For he who is near
me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom of
God."
Encouragement to Pray
6
"And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened to you. 7For every one who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will
be opened. 8For what father among you, if his son asks for a bread, will
give him a stone; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion; 9or if
he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? 10If you then,
who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will the heavenly Father give a good gift to those who ask him!"
brother divide the inheritance with me." 2But he said to him, "Man, who
made me a judge over you?" 3And turning to his disciples, Jesus asked
them, "Am I a divider?" 4And he said to the crowd, "Take heed, and
beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the
abundance of his possessions."
Division in Households
20
And Jesus said to the multitudes, "I came to cast fire upon the earth;
and how I am constrained until it is kindled! 21Do you think that I have
come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 22for
henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and
two against three; 23they will be divided, father against son and son
against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her
mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law.
Repentance or Destruction
27
There were some present at that very time who told him of the
Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 28And he
answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners
than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? 29I tell you, No;
but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 30Or those eighteen
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that
they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? 31I
tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
The attention of the scholarly world was immediately drawn when among
the first documents published by Yu. Grigoriev and his team were two
until-now lost tragedies of the Greek playwright Aeschylus. Among the
other documents eventually to see publication was the partial text of a
hitherto unknown apocryphal gospel.
Yu. Grigoriev has provided a brief essay on the historical and critical
significance of the Gospel of Thaddaeus, making full use of his insights
gained during the ongoing work at Edessa. We present here, for the first
time, an English translation of his remarks in full.
For Td was redacted at the extreme point in the subapostolic era when
there was still a substantial extra-synoptic oral and written tradition
available to draw upon. Some of this has also come down to us through
other apocryphal gospels, or via patristic citation; and some of the
pericopes which have thus been preserved, are parallelled in Td, as for
example the parable of the assassin, the parable of the woman and the
jar of meal, the exhortations to "be skilful bankers" and to "become
passers-by," or Jesus' dispute with the official in the temple.
But Td also seems to have yet other oral and written sources at his
disposal. Some sayings and parables in Td-- such as the parable of the
anvil, the parable of the vintner, or the lapidary little parable of the two
plowmen-- we find nowhere else outside of Td. It is yet open to question
whether we can speak of a single homogeneous T source; one "pre-
Thomas, pre-Thaddaeus" T1 source, and another pre-Thaddaean T2
source; or whether we are dealing here with several distinct strands of
written and oral tradition.
And yet another example would be Td's brief infancy narrative, really
much more restrained than that in either Mt or Lk, which seems to draw
on a written annunciation tradition of considerable antiquity, which Td
may well share in common with Lk. That Td relies on this older tradition,
when he has the much more expansive account of Lk in front of him,
typifies his editorial restraint. The kind of recklessness which was finding
its way into the surviving independent oral tradition by this time (as
witness even some of the fragments of Papias which have come down to
us) seldom finds its way past the editorial judgment of Td.
In the Galilean ministry, outside the Sermon on the Lake and a few
scattered pericopes, these non-Markan, non-Lucan traditions make their
presence felt in a verse here, a change in wording there. Much of this
section of Td-- chapters 2 through 9-- gives the impression of a very fine
parquet-work of Marcan and Lucan materials, with an occasional detail or
accent from other sources.
As a table of gospel parallels will show, outside the opening and closing
sections of his gospel, Td generally follows the overall order of Lk when
he can. However, he does not hesitate to relocate Lucan material when it
suits his purpose, e.g. the call of Levi, which he splits up and uses in two
separate places; or the sayings and incidents relating to children, all of
which Td gathers together in one place. Occasionally Td omits Lucan
material, e.g. the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And in two
sections, Td follows Mk instead of Lk: the sayings from Mk 4, which Lk
scatters throughout, are gathered together and included in the Sermon
on the Lake; and Mk 6:45-8:26, which Lk omits but much of which Td
includes toward the end of the Galilean ministry.
But we also find throughout Td little touches such as the editorial remark
at the opening of the Sermon on the Lake (4:3) that the people "pressed
upon [Jesus] that they might hear the word of God and that power might
come forth from him upon them." Or again, the act of cleansing the
Temple (21:29-33) is immediately followed by Jesus' discursive dispute
with a chief priest in the Temple (21:34-42), an incident without parallel
in the synoptics. Examples could be multiplied almost indefinitely. We
have but to read a few verses further (21:46) to discover the chief
priests and scribes conspiring against Jesus: "For they said to one
another, 'You see how the people are following after his teaching and his
signs.'"
This motif, as developed by Td, binds up within itself elements, not only
of the priority of God within the divine-human relationship, but also a
focus on the mission of the Thaddaean community; the universal thrust
of the kingdom; and the grace of God. Already within Td's annunciation
story (1:7) we read, "And he will save his people Israel, all whom God
calls." At the end of Td's gospel, in a logion which finds a parallel in the
Epistle of Barnabas, the risen Christ tells his disciples, "I pray earnestly
that you not be found many called but few chosen." (26:44) Perhaps the
characteristic note of the Thaddaean notion of call is to be found in a
redactional comment which Td appends to a saying also found, in a much
more gnosticized form, in divers patristic sources: "Split wood: the
kingdom of God is there. Lift up the stone, and there you will find it. For
the Spirit of God is moving in the midst of you, and whoever is known
and called by my Father will find the kingdom." (17:21-22)
It is in this light that we are to view the favorite Thaddaean theme of the
coming tribulation, as even in Td's version of the Lord's Prayer (11:5).
Along with the expectation of tribulation, there is also a repeated
command to watch and wait, as in the unparalleled dominical logion in
13:5, "These things I tell you, that you may read the signs, and reading
you may hope, and hoping you may keep watch." In Td's version of the
parable of the woman and the jar of meal (17:25-28), we find a detail
not attested in the parallel in GTh 97: the woman did not notice the jar
leaking, "for she was not watching." And Td includes among the last
words of the risen Christ, before his exaltation to heaven: "So keep
watch, and proclaim the gospel... for the kingdom of God is at hand."
This is not to say that Td eschews color-- quite the contrary! For perhaps
the most characteristic motif of all in Td-- we might almost call it a tone
or a tint which pervades the whole-- is a stress on something not unlike
the aesthetic.
But Td's aesthetic slant comes forth even more strongly on an abstract
plane. One gets the impression that, for Td, the aesthetic is often close
to assimilating itself to the numinous, the prerational and amoral pole of
the holy. Or perhaps it is the other way around.
This parable is clearly parallel to the parable of the talents in Mt, and the
parable of the pounds in Lk. In each case, three servants are entrusted
by their master with varying sums. But in Mt and Lk, two of the servants
are faithful, and are rewarded; while the third servant buries his money,
and is cast out.
However, Td inverts the fates of these latter two servants. Td has the
first servant faithful, and rewarded. The second is profligate, and
reproved but forgiven. Only the third, who buries his money, is cast out.
Here Td comes perilously close to saying, with an aesthetic eye, that
faithfulness is better than profligacy, but that action of any sort, even if it
go astray, is preferable to inanition.
The reader will rapidly note that Td favors certain christological titles.
"The Son of man" is much more common than "the Son of God." The title
"Lord" appears often enough as a term of address, but not that
frequently (outside of scriptural citations) in the third person outside of
the resurrection narratives; and the term "Lord Jesus" appears precisely
twice, in the last few verses of Td, in connection with the exaltation and
expected coming of the risen Christ.
This comes forth strikingly in Td's passion account, where the lifting up
of Christ on the cross is interpreted as his universal enthronement
through a citation from Ps 96: "Proclaim to the nations, 'The Lord reigns
from the wood.'" (The curious reading ek xylou is also attested in Justin
Martyr.) Christ is presented as dying with a quotation on his lips, not
from Ps 31 as in Lk, but rather with a further citation from Ps 96:
"Father, I ascribe to thee the glory due thy name." And, as the veil of the
Temple is rent and the threshold of the Temple shaken, Christ's death on
the altar of the cross is then interpreted as the death of one who is both
priest-sacrificiant and lamb-sacrifice, via a free citation from Amos: "I
saw the Lord upon the altar, and he said: 'Smite the capitals until the
thresholds shake.'"
As I write these words, night has fallen over our work site at Edessa. But
for the call of the insects, the air is still. And I have before me a yellowed
scrap of paper which I have carried with me in all my travels. I no longer
recall when or how I first ran across it, only it has been among my
papers now for many years. It is from a periodical, no doubt long
defunct, called The War Cry. The issue was dated February 5, 1949. The
item was a filler piece, run at the bottom of page four.
The little filler, in four tidy columns, tells me that Matthew "Presents
Christ as... The Mighty King"; Mark, as the Lowly Servant; Luke, as the
Ideal Man; John, as the Divine Son.
Like the C and D and CI and CF scales on a slide rule, the piece tells me
that Matthew "Was written for" the Jews; Mark, for the Romans; Luke,
for the Greeks; John, for the Church.
A and B scales, and K scale, and L scale... Matthew "Deals mainly with"
the Past; Mark, with the Present; Luke, with the Future; John, with
Eternity.
And ST and T and S scales, and those log-log scales which I could never
fathom... Matthew "Emphasizes Christ as" Power; Mark, as Endurance;
Luke, as Sympathy; John, as Glory.
Forgive a not-so-old scholar if I confess in all candor that this little piece
exercises over me a quite unreasonable attraction, rather like that of
Irenaeus' old argument which likened the four gospels to the four winds,
the four elements, the four humors, the four arms of the cross. For all its
brevity, it is apt: more apt than my uncle, who once told a pop-eyed
assistant professor of a nephew that, among the gospels, he preferred
Matthew and John, because "John is realistic, and Matthew direct."
And if I slide the slipstick back and forth, and adjust the cursor thus and
so, I seem to read off that Thaddaeus Presents Christ as the Numinous
Priest-King; Was written for Those Outside the Empire; its Chief
characteristic, that it is Aesthetical; it Deals mainly with Time Shot
through with Eternity; and Emphasizes Christ as the Beauty of Holiness.
All this is but a jeu d'esprit on a moonlit night, though I do not beg the
reader's indulgence, for it is a game that bears within it an earnest
reminder that we do not live by scholarship alone.