The Apocalypse of Peter is one of a series of early Christian
apocalypses. See #31 below for its casting of male and female
homosexuals into Hell. For discussion of this text see Bernadette
Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to
Female Homoeroticism, (Chicago: 1996), 305-308.
1. ... many of them will be false prophets,(1) and will teach
divers way and doctrines of perdition: but these will become sons
of perdition.(2) 3. And then God will come unto my faithful ones
who hunger and thirst and are afflicted and purify their souls
in this life; and he will judge the sons of lawlessness.(3)
4. And furthermore the Lord said: Let us go into the mountain:(4)
Let us pray.(5). And going with him, we, the twelve disciples,
begged that he would show us one of our brethren, the righteous
who are gone forth out of the world, in order that we might see
of what manner of form they are, and having taken courage, might
also encourage(5) the men who hear us.
6. And as we prayed, suddenly there appeared two men standing
before the Lord towards the East, on whom we were not able to
look;(6) 7, for there came forth from their countenance a ray
as of the sun, and their raiment was shining, such as eye of man(7)
never saw; for no mouth is able to express or heart to conceive
the glory with which they were endued, and the beauty of their
appearance. 8. And as we looked upon them, we were astounded;
for their bodies were whiter than any snow and ruddier than any
rose;(8) 9, and the red thereof was mingled with the white, and
I am utterly unable to express their beauty; 10, for their hair
was curly and bright and seemly both on their face and shoulders,
as it were a wreath(9) woven of spikenard and divers-coloured
flowers, or like a rainbow in the sky, such was their seemliness.
11. Seeing therefore their beauty we became astounded at them,
since they appeared suddenly. 12. And I approached the Lord and
said: Who are these? 13. He saith to me: These are your brethren
the righteous, whose forms ye desired to see. 14. And I said to
him: And where are all the righteous ones and what is the aeon
in which they are and have this glory?
15. And the Lord showed me(10) a very great country outside of
this world, exceeding bright with light, and the air there lighted
with the rays of the sun, and the earth itself blooming with unfading
flowers and full of spices and plants, fair-flowering and incorruptible
and bearing blessed fruit. 16. And so great was the perfume that
it(11) was borne thence even unto us. 17. And the dwellers in
that place were clad in the raiment of shining angels and their
raiment was like unto their country; and angels hovered about
them there. 18. And the glory of the dwellers there was equal,
and with one voice they sang praises alternately to the Lord God,
rejoicing in that place. 19. The Lord saith to us: This is the
place of your high-priests,(12) the righteous men.
20. And over against that place I saw another, squalid, and it
was the place of punishment; and those who were punished there
and the punishing angels had their raiment dark(13) like the air
of the place.
21. And there were certain there hanging by the tongue: and these
were the blasphemers of the way of righteousness; and under them
lay fire,(14) burning and punishing them. 22. And there was a
great lake, full of flaming mire, in which were certain men that
pervert righteousness,(1) and tormenting angels afflicted them.
23. And there were also others, women, hanged by their hair over
that mire that bubbled up: and these were they who adorned themselves
for adultery; and the men who mingled with them in the defilement(2)
of adultery, were hanging by the feet and their heads in that
mire. And I said: I did not believe that I should come into this
place.
24. And I saw the murderers and those who conspired with them,
cast into a certain strait place, full of evil snakes, and smitten
by those beasts, and thus turning to and fro in that punishment;
and worms,(3) as it were clouds of darkness, afflicted them. And
the souls of the murdered stood and looked upon the punishment
of those murderers and said: O God, thy judgment is just.
25. And near that place I saw another strait place into which
the gore and the filth of those who were being punished ran down
and became there as it were a lake: and there sat women having
the gore up to their necks, and over against them sat many children
who were born to them out of due time, crying; and there came
forth from them sparks of fire and smote the women in the eyes:
and these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion.
26. And other men and women were burning up to the middle and
were cast into a dark place and were beaten by evil spirits, and
their inwards were eaten by restless worms:(4) and these were
they who persecuted the righteous and delivered them up.
27. And near those there were again women and men gnawing their
own lips, and being punished and receiving a red-hot iron in their
eyes: and these were they who blasphemed and slandered(5) the
way of righteousness.
28. And over against these again other men and women gnawing their
tongues and having flaming fire in their mouths: and these were
the false witnesses.(6)
29. And in a certain other place there were pebbles sharper than
swords or any spit, red-hot, and women and men in tattered and
filthy raiment rolled about on them in punishment: and these were
the rich who trusted in their riches and had no pity for orphans
and widows, and despised the commandment(7) of God.
30. And in another great lake, full of pitch and blood and mire
bubbling up, there stood men and women up to their knees: and
these were the usurers and those who take interest on interest.
31. And other men and women were being hurled down from a great
cliff and reached the bottom, and again were driven by those who
were set over them to climb up upon the cliff, and thence were
hurled down again, and had no rest from this punishment: and these
were they who defiled(8) their bodies acting as women; and the
women who were with them were those who lay with one another as
a man with a woman.
32. And alongside of that cliff there was a place full of much
fire, and there stood men who with their own hands had made for
themselves carven images instead of God. And alongside of these
were other men and women, having rods and striking each other
and never ceasing from such punishment.
33. And others again near them, women and men, burning and turning
themselves and roasting: and these were they that leaving the
way of God(9)
FRAGMENTS OF THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER.
1. CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, Eclog. 48. For instance, Peter in the
Apocalypse says that the children who are born out of due time
shall be of the better part: and that these are delivered over
to a care-taking angel that they may attain a share of knowledge
and gain the better abode [after suffering what they would have
suffered if they had been in the body: but the others shall merely
obtain salvation as injured beings to whom mercy is shown, and
remain without punishment, receiving this as a reward].*
2. CLEM. ALEX. Eclog. 49. But the milk of the women running down
from their breasts and congealing shall engender small flesh-eating
beasts: and these run up upon them and devour them.(1)
3. MACARIUS MAGNES, Apocritica iv., 6 cf. 16. The earth, it (sc.
the Apoc. of Peter) says, "shall present all men before God
at the day of judgment, being itself also to be judged, with the
heaven also which encompasses it."
4. CLEM. ALEX. Eclog. 41. The scripture says that infants that
have been exposed are delivered to a care-taking angel, by whom
they are educated and so grow up, and they will be, it says, as
the faithful of a hundred years old are here.
5. METHODIUS, Conviv. ii., 6. Whence also we have received in
divinely-inspired scriptures that untimely births are delivered
to care-taking angels, even if they are the offspring of adultery.
Source.
From:
The Apocalypse of Peter, first half of 2nd Century, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 10,
145-147
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