The Investiture of the Archangel Michael (alternatively, the Book of the Investiture of the Holy Archangel Michael [1] or the Book of the Investiture of Michael [2] ) is an apocryphal text of the New Testament. It is an Old Nubian-language text, purportedly written by John the Apostle, which describes the importance of Michael, an archangel, in Christianity, as well as the role of Satan in several biblical events.
In most of Christianity, Michael, an archangel, is of fairly little importance. [3] In the Christianity of Egypt, particularly of Old Nubian-language writings, he is relatively more important, and he appears in several texts. [3]
The Investiture of the Archangel Michael is a Coptic-language apocryphal writing; while it is unknown when it was first written, there are manuscripts and translations into the Sahidic and Fayumic dialects from the ninth century, though there are earlier (seventh-century, as in the case of John of Parallos's Contra Libros Haereticorum ) attestations of its existence. [upper-alpha 1] [4] The most complete manuscript of the text is dated between 892 and 893, and it includes the Investiture of Gabriel the Archangel . [1] It has also been attested to in Old Nubian and Greek, [1] and an original Greek edition of the text may date to before 600. [2]
In two of the three main manuscripts of the text, John the Apostle is the purported writer. [1] It describes the fall of Satan and his replacement by Michael; the creation of the seven archangels (including Satan, known as Saklataboth) and their purposes (to worship God); Satan causing the beheading of John the Baptist; John the Baptist's age at death, varying between 31 and 34 between manuscripts; and the theological importance of reverence for Michael. [5]
Though there are several similarities between the Investiture of the Archangel Michael and the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul , particularly a shared cosmological belief system and shared physical description of hell, their theological understandings of heaven and hell are dissimilar. [6]
The Coptic script is the script used for writing the Coptic language, the latest stage of Egyptian. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the uncial Greek alphabet, augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic. It was the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian language. There are several Coptic alphabets, as the script varies greatly among the various dialects and eras of the Coptic language.
The Apocalypse of Peter, also called the Revelation of Peter, is an early Christian text of the 2nd century and an example of apocalyptic literature with Hellenistic overtones. It is not included in the standard canon of the New Testament, but is mentioned in the Muratorian fragment, the oldest surviving list of New Testament books, which also states that some authorities would not have it read in church. The text is extant in two incomplete versions of a lost Greek original, a later Greek version and an Ethiopic version, which diverge considerably. The work is classed as part of New Testament apocrypha.
The Life of Adam and Eve, also known in its Greek version as the Apocalypse of Moses, is a Jewish apocryphal group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to their deaths. It provides more detail about the Fall of Man, including Eve's version of the story. Satan explains that he rebelled when God commanded him to bow down to Adam. After Adam dies, he and all his descendants are promised a resurrection.
The Hebrew name Jerahmeel, which appears several times in the Tanakh, also appears in various forms as the name of an archangel in books of the intertestamental and early Christian periods.
The New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cited as scripture by early Christians, but since the fifth century a widespread consensus has emerged limiting the New Testament to the 27 books of the modern canon. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches generally do not view the New Testament apocrypha as part of the Bible.
Old Nubian is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used throughout the kingdom of Makuria, including the eparchy of Nobatia. The language is preserved in more than a hundred pages of documents and inscriptions, both of a religious nature, and related to the state and private life, written using adaptation of the Coptic alphabet.
The Questions of Bartholomew is not to be confused with the book called Resurrection of Jesus Christ, although either text may be the missing Gospel of Bartholomew, a lost work from the New Testament apocrypha.
The History of Joseph the Carpenter is a compilation of traditions concerning Mary, Joseph, and the Holy Family, probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translation. The text bears witness to the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
The Apocalypse of Paul is a fourth-century non-canonical apocalypse and part of the New Testament apocrypha. The full original Greek version of the Apocalypse is lost, although fragmentary versions still exist. Using later versions and translations, the text has been reconstructed, notably from Latin and Syriac translations.
The Coptic Apocalypse of Paul is a Gnostic apocalyptic writing. It is the second of five treatises in Codex V of the Nag Hammadi library texts, taking up pages 17–24 of the codex's 85 pages. The text describes a Gnostic cosmogony and interpretation of Pauline epistles via its portrayal of Paul the Apostle as an apocalyptic hero. The content of the text can be divided into three parts: an epiphany scene, a scene of judgment and punishment, and a heavenly journey in which Paul ultimately ascends to the tenth level of heaven. The basis of the ascent narrative is Paul's own writing in 2 Corinthians 12. The ideas presented in the text are consistent with Valentinianism.
The Epistle of the Apostles is a work of New Testament apocrypha. Despite its name, it is more a gospel or an apocalypse than an epistle. The work takes the form of an open letter purportedly from the remaining eleven apostles describing key events of the life of Jesus, followed by a dialogue between the resurrected Jesus and the apostles where Jesus reveals apocalyptic secrets of reality and the future. It is 51 chapters long. The epistle was likely written in the 2nd century CE in Koine Greek, but was lost for many centuries. A partial Coptic language manuscript was discovered in 1895, a more complete Ethiopic language manuscript was published in 1913, and a full Coptic-Ethiopic-German edition was published in 1919.
The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is an apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical work, that contains various narratives related to the Christian Bible. It was written in the Syriac language, approximately at the end of the 6th, or at the beginning of the 7th century. Its authorship was traditionally attributed to Ephrem of Edessa, but modern scholarly analyses have shown that the true author was some other person, who also lived in Upper Mesopotamia, but much later.
There have been many Coptic versions of the Bible, including some of the earliest translations into any language. Several different versions were made in the ancient world, with different editions of the Old and New Testament in five of the dialects of Coptic: Bohairic (northern), Fayyumic, Sahidic (southern), Akhmimic and Mesokemic (middle). Biblical books were translated from the Alexandrian Greek version.
Coptic literature is the body of writings in the Coptic language of Egypt, the last stage of the indigenous Egyptian language. It is written in the Coptic alphabet. The study of the Coptic language and literature is called Coptology.
George William Horner (1849–1930) was a British biblical scholar, an editor of the text of the New Testament in the dialects of the Coptic language.
The ancient church orders form a genre of early Christian literature, ranging from 1st to 5th century, which has the purpose of offering authoritative "apostolic" prescriptions on matters of moral conduct, liturgy and Church organization. These texts are extremely important in the study of early liturgy and served as the basis for much ancient ecclesiastical legislation.
The Alexandrine Sinodos is a Christian collection of Church Orders. This collection of earlier texts dates from the 4th or 5th century CE. The provenience is Egypt and it was particularly used in the ancient Coptic and Ethiopian Christianity.
Alin Suciu is a Romanian coptologist and papyrologist. He is a Senior Researcher at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a Docent in Early Christian Literature and Coptic Christianity at the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki.
Pseudo-Chrysostom is the designation used for the anonymous authors of texts falsely or erroneously attributed to John Chrysostom. Most such works are sermons, since more than 500 of John's actual sermons survive.
The Investiture of Abbaton, the Enthronement of Abbaton, or the Encomium on Abbaton, is an apocalyptic, pseudepigraphical, and apocryphal text. It describes the creation of Adam by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; the fall of Satan; and the transformation of Muriel into Abbaton, the angel of death. The sole extant copy is dated to 981, and while its present version probably dates to the 700s, it may have an original from the 600s. It is purportedly written by Timothy of Alexandria.