LUX VERITAS

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Apocrypha · Chapter 1 of 13

Christ's Descent into Hell 1

Descensus Christi

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And Joseph rose up and said to Annas and Caiaphas: Truly and well do you wonder, since you have heard that Jesus has been seen alive from the dead, ascending up into heaven.

2But it is more to be wondered at that he is not the only one who has risen from the dead: but he has raised up alive out of their tombs many others of the dead, and they have been seen by many in Jerusalem.

3And hear me now, that we all know the blessed Simeon, the great priest, who took up with his hands Jesus, when an infant, in the temple.

4And Simeon himself had two sons, full brothers; and we all were at their falling asleep, and at their burial.

5Go, therefore, and see their tombs: for they are open, because they have risen; and, behold, they are in the city of Arimathæa, living together in prayers.

6And, indeed, they are heard crying out, but speaking with nobody, and they are silent as the dead.

7But come, let us go to them; let us conduct them to us with all honour and respect.

8And if we adjure them, perhaps they will speak to us of the mystery of their resurrection.

9At hearing this they all rejoiced.

10And Annas and Caiaphas, Nicodemus, and Joseph, and Gamaliel, went, and did not find them in their sepulchres; but, walking into the city of Arimathea, they found them there, on their bended knees, and spending their time in prayer.

11And kissing them, they conducted them to Jerusalem, into the synagogue, with all veneration and fear of God.

12And shutting the doors, and lifting up the law of the Lord, they put it in their hands, adjuring them by the God Adonai, and the God of Israel, who by the law and the prophets spoke to our fathers, saying: Do you believe that it was Jesus who raised you from the dead?

13Tell us how you have risen from the dead.

14Karinus and Leucius, hearing this adjuration, trembled in their body, and groaned, being disturbed in heart.

15And together they looked towards heaven, and with their fingers made the sign of the cross on their tongues, and immediately they spoke together, saying: Give each of us sheets of paper, and let us write what we have seen and heard.

16And they gave it to them.

17And they sat down, and each of them wrote, saying:—

Words in this chapter

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About Christ's Descent into Hell

An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. English text: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, The Gospel of Nicodemus, Part II: The Descent of Christ into Hell (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.), Alexander Walker, 1886 (public domain). Portuguese and Spanish: Lux Veritas translations from this edition.

Source: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, The Gospel of Nicodemus, Part II: The Descent of Christ into Hell (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co.), Alexander Walker (1886) · public domain