Chapter 1

1Ir came to pass, after our Lord rose from the dead, and appeared unto us, and was handled ® by Thomas and Matthew and John, and we were persuaded that our Master* was truly risen from the dead, that falling on our faces we blessed the Father of the new world,> God, Who hath saved us by Jesus Christ our Lord; and being held® in very great fear, we waited prostrate as babes which speak not.’ But Jesus our Lord, putting His hand on each one of us separately, lifted us up, saying, Why hath your heart thus fallen, and are ye stricken with great astonishment? Know ye not that He who sent Me can do glorious things for the salvation of them that have from the heart believed on Him? Stand not then as [men] astonished, and staring’ neither [be] slothful, Lord Jesus Christ ; the words which, after He rose from the dead, He spake to the holy Apostles. The Copto-Arabic version renders it with several variations. In Codex C. the preface is: And it came to pass after our Lord returned to life and rose from the grave on the third day and revealed Himself to His holy disciples and spake with them, they said unto Him afterwards: Tell us, O our Lord (as in chapter 2). Thesaurus Syriacus, col. 1367). fashioned [like statues]. but as the children of light} ask of My Father which is in heaven the Spirit of counsel and might,? and He will fill you with the Holy Ghost and grant you to be with Me for ever. And we returned answer, saying, Lord,* what is the Holy Ghost, and what is His power, whom Thou badest® us to ask for? And our Lord said unto us, Verily I say unto you that ye shall not be the children of the light? except by the Holy Ghost. And we returned answer to Him, and said, O our Lord, give us this [Spirit]. And immediately Jesus ° breathed on us.’ And after we had received the Holy Ghost, He said unto us, Verily® I say unto you, that ye who have been made disciples unto the kingdom of heaven, and who have believed in Me with undoubting heart, and have cleaved unto Me, shall be with Me; and all those who through you know and do the will of My Father, who keep My words and know My sufferings,® shall be made holy, and shall dwell in the habitations ! of My Father, and shall be delivered from the evil days that are about to come; and I will be with them, shewing them My ways in which they shall live.