Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of Peter, also called the Revelation of Peter, is an early Christian text of the 2nd century and a work of apocalyptic literature. It is the earliest-written extant work depicting a Christian account of heaven and hell in detail. The Apocalypse of Peter is influenced by both Jewish apocalyptic literature and Greek philosophy of the Hellenistic period. The text is extant in two diverging versions based on a lost Koine Greek original: a shorter Greek version and a longer Ethiopic version.
The work is pseudepigraphal: it is purportedly written by the disciple Peter, but its actual author is unknown. The Apocalypse of Peter describes a divine vision experienced by Peter through the risen Jesus Christ. After the disciples inquire about signs of the Second Coming of Jesus, the work delves into a vision of the afterlife, and details both heavenly bliss for the righteous and infernal punishments for the damned. In particular, the punishments are graphically described in a physical sense, and loosely correspond to "an eye for an eye" : blasphemers are hung by their tongues; liars who bear false witness have their lips cut off; callous rich people are pierced by stones while being made to go barefoot and wear filthy rags, mirroring the status of the poor in life; and so on.
The Apocalypse of Peter is not included in the standard canon of the New Testament, but is classed as part of New Testament apocrypha. It is listed in the canon of the Muratorian fragment, a 2nd-century list of approved books in Christianity and one of the earliest surviving proto-canons. However, the Muratorian fragment expresses some hesitation on the work, saying that some authorities would not have it read in church. While the Apocalypse of Peter influenced other Christian works in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries, it came to be considered inauthentic and declined in use. It was largely superseded by the Apocalypse of Paul, a popular 4th-century work heavily influenced by the Apocalypse of Peter that provides its own updated vision of heaven and hell. The Apocalypse of Peter is a forerunner of the same genre as the Divine Comedy of Dante, wherein the protagonist takes a tour of the realms of the afterlife.
Authorship and date
The Apocalypse of Peter seems to have been written between 100 AD and 150 AD. The terminus post quem—the point after which the Apocalypse of Peter must have been written—is shown by its probable use of the Fourth Book of Esdras, which was written about 100 AD. The Apocalypse is quoted in Book 2 of the Sibylline Oracles, and cited by name and quoted in Clement of Alexandria's Prophetical Extracts. It also appears by name in the Muratorian fragment, generally dated to the late 2nd century. All of this implies it must have been in existence by around 150 AD, the terminus ante quem.The geographic origin of the author is unknown and remains a matter of scholarly debate. The main theories are for Palestine or Egypt. Richard Bauckham argues for more precisely dating the composition to the Bar Kokhba revolt, and identifies the author as a Jewish Christian in Roman Judea, the region affected by the revolt. As an example, the writer seems to write from a position of persecution, condemning those who caused the deaths of martyrs by their lies, and Bar Kokhba is reputed to have punished and killed Christians. This suggestion is not accepted by all; Eibert Tigchelaar wrote a rebuttal of the argument as unconvincing, as other calamities such as the Jewish revolt under Trajan could have been the inspiration, as could forgotten local persecutions. Other scholars suggest Roman Egypt as a possible origin; Jan Bremmer suggests that Greek philosophical influence in the work points to an author or editor in more Hellenized Egypt, although perhaps working off a Palestinian text.
Manuscript history
From the medieval era to 1886, the Apocalypse of Peter was known only through quotations and mentions in early Christian writings. A fragmented Koine Greek manuscript was discovered during excavations initiated by Gaston Maspéro during the 1886–87 season in a desert necropolis at Akhmim in Upper Egypt. The fragment consisted of parchment leaves supposedly deposited in the grave of a Christian monk. There are a wide range of estimates for when the manuscript was written. Paleographer Guglielmo Cavallo and papyrologist Herwig Maehler estimate that the late 6th century is the most likely. The Greek manuscript is now kept in the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo.The French explorer Antoine d'Abbadie acquired a large number of manuscripts in Ethiopia in the 19th century, but many sat unanalyzed and untranslated for decades. A large set of Clementine literature in Ethiopic from d'Abbadie's collection was published along with translations into French in 1907-1910. After reading the French translations, the English scholar M. R. James realized in 1910 that there was a strong correspondence with the Akhmim Greek Apocalypse of Peter, and that an Ethiopic version of the same work was within this cache. Another independent Ethiopic manuscript was discovered on the island of Kebrān in Lake Tana in 1968. Scholars speculate that these Ethiopic versions were translated from a lost Arabic version, which itself was translated from the lost Greek original. The d'Abbadie manuscript is estimated by Carlo Conti Rossini to have been created in the 15th or 16th century, while the Lake Tana manuscript is estimated by Ernst Hammerschmidt to be from perhaps the 18th century.
Two other short Greek fragments of the work have been discovered, both originally found in Egypt: a 5th-century fragment held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford that had been discovered in 1895; and the Rainer fragment held by the Rainer collection in Vienna, discovered in the 1880s but only recognized as relevant to the Apocalypse of Peter in 1929. The Rainer fragment was dated to the 3rd or 4th century by M. R. James in 1931. A 2003 analysis suggests it is from the same manuscript as the Bodleian fragment and thus also from the 5th century. These fragments offer significant variations from the other versions. In the Ethiopic manuscripts, the Apocalypse of Peter is only one section of a combined work called "The Second Coming of Christ and the Resurrection of the Dead", followed in both manuscripts by a work called "The Mystery of the Judgment of Sinners". In total, five manuscripts are extant today: the two Ethiopic manuscripts and the three Greek fragments.
Most scholars believe that the Ethiopic versions are closer to the original text, while the Greek manuscript discovered at Akhmim is a later and edited version. This is for a number of reasons: the Akhmim version is shorter, while the Ethiopic matches the claimed line count from the Stichometry of Nicephorus; patristic references and quotes seem to match the Ethiopic version better; the Ethiopic matches better with the Rainer and Bodleian Greek fragments; and the Akhmim version seems to be attempting to integrate the Apocalypse with the Gospel of Peter, which would naturally result in revisions. The Rainer and Bodleian fragments can be compared to the others in only a few passages, but are considered to be the most reliable guide to the original text.
Contents
The Apocalypse of Peter is framed as a discourse of Jesus to his faithful. In the Ethiopic version, the apostle Peter experiences a vision of hell followed by a vision of heaven, granted by the risen Christ; in the Akhmim fragment, the order of heaven and hell is reversed, and it is revealed by Jesus during his life and ministry. In the form of a Greek or, it goes into elaborate detail about the punishment in hell for each type of crime, as well as briefly sketching the nature of heaven.The Second Coming
In the opening, the disciples ask for signs of the Second Coming while on the Mount of Olives. In chapter 2 of the Ethiopic version, Peter asks for an explanation of the meaning of the parables of the budding fig tree and the barren fig tree, in an expansion of the "Little Apocalypse" of Matthew 24. Jesus joins the two parables in a detailed allegory. The setting "in the summer" is transferred to "the end of the world"; the fig tree represents Israel, and the flourishing shoots are Jews who have adopted Jesus as Messiah and achieve martyrdom. The work continues on to describe the end times that will accompany the Second Coming: fire and darkness will convulse the world, a crowned Christ will return in glory, and the people of the nations will pass through a river of fire. The elect will be unscathed by the test, but sinners will be brought to a place where they shall be punished for their transgressions.Punishments and rewards
The work proceeds to describe the punishments that await the wicked. Many of the punishments are overseen by Ezrael the Angel of Wrath. The angel Uriel resurrects the dead into new bodies so that they can be either rewarded or tormented physically. Punishments in hell according to the vision include:The vision of heaven is shorter than the depiction of hell, and described more fully in the Akhmim version. In heaven, people have pure milky white skin, curly hair, and are generally beautiful. The earth blooms with everlasting flowers and spices. People wear shiny clothes made of light, like the angels. Everyone sings in choral prayer.
In the Ethiopic version, the account closes with an account of the ascension of Jesus on the mountain in chapters 15-17. Jesus, accompanied by the prophets Moses and Elijah, ascends on a cloud to the first heaven, and then they depart to the second heaven. While it is an account of the ascension, it includes some parallels to Matthew's account of the transfiguration of Jesus. In the Akhmim fragment, which is set when Jesus was still alive, both the mountain and the two other men are unnamed, but the men are similarly transfigured into radiant forms.