The Revelation of Ezra (Revelatio Esdrae)[1] is a short Latinkalandologion, a type of almanac that gives meteorological, agricultural, economic and other predictions for any given year based on the day of the week on which it begins.[2] It treats the kalends (first day) of January as the beginning of the year.[3]
The Revelation was composed in Latin by an anonymous author in Western Europe or North Africa no later than the ninth century and possibly much earlier. It is preserved in three manuscripts of the ninth, twelfth and fifteenth centuries.[4] It consists of an introductory sentence followed by seven paragraphs corresponding to the days of the week.[5] It purports to be a "revelation which was made to Ezra and the children of Israel".[6] The use of the phrase "Lord's Day" marks its real author as at least a nominal Christian, but there is no attempt in the text to provide a theological justification for its fatalism.[7]
David Fiensy sees the pseudonym "Ezra" as chosen because of the populartiy of 4 Ezra,[8] but Jens Schröter places the Revelation in "an independent line of reception of the figure of Ezra with no relationship to the prophetic and apocalyptic writings" like 4 Ezra.[3] The text does bear resemblance to the Jewish Treatise of Shem, which makes predictions for a year based on the sign of the zodiac at the start of the year.[8][5] At a further remove is the Dead Sea scroll4QCryptic, which predicts a person's physical characteristics from the zodiac at his birth.[5] Other kalandologia identical in structure to the Revelation survive in both Latin and Greek.[8]
The Latin text was published by Giovanni Mercati in 1901 on the basis of all three manuscripts.[2] Fiensy has made an English translation based on the oldest manuscript.[9]
Fiensy, D. A. (1983). "Revelation of Ezra". In James H. Charlesworth (ed.). The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol.1, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments. Doubleday. pp.601–604.
Fried, Lisbeth S. (2014). Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition. University of South Carolina.
Schröter, Jens (2021). "Ezra and his Visions: From Jewish Apocalypse to Medieval Tour of Hell". In Jens Schröter; Tobias Nicklas; Armand Puig i Tàrrech (eds.). Dreams, Visions, Imaginations: Jewish, Christian and Gnostic Views of the World to Come. De Gruyter. pp.235–259. doi:10.1515/9783110714746-010.
Ezra or Esdras, also called Ezra the Scribe in Chazalic literature, and Ezra the Priest was an important Jewish scribe (sofer) and priest (kohen) in the early Second Temple period. In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras. His name is probably a shortened Aramaic translation of the Hebrew name עזריהו Azaryahu, "Yah helps". In the Greek Septuagint the name is rendered Ésdrās, from which the Latin name Esdras comes.
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events relating to first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as sacred scripture by Christians.
Apocalypse is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imagery drawn from the Hebrew Bible, cosmological and (pessimistic) historical surveys, the division of time into periods, esoteric numerology, and claims of ecstasy and inspiration. Almost all are written under pseudonyms, claiming as author a venerated hero from previous centuries, as with the Book of Daniel, composed during the 2nd century BC but bearing the name of the legendary Daniel.
Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. Apocalypse is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling".
The Apocalypse 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 living creatures, living beings, or hayyot are a class of heavenly beings in Jewish mythology. They are described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the sacred creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah ("chariot") literature, in the Book of Revelation in the Christian New Testament, and in the Zohar.
In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the Messianic era. The prophecy is recorded by Ezekiel as having been received on Yom Kippur of the year 3372 of the Hebrew calendar.
2 Esdras is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the fifth century BC, but scholarship places its composition between 70 and 218 AD.
The name "Esdras" is found in the title of four texts attributed to, or associated with, the prophet Ezra. The naming convention of the four books of Esdras differs between church traditions; and has changed over time.
3 Baruch or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is a visionary, pseudepigraphic text written some time between the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire in 70 AD and the third century AD. Scholars disagree on whether it was written by a Jew or a Christian, or whether a clear distinction can be made in this era. It is one of the Pseudepigrapha, attributed to the 6th-century BC scribe of Jeremiah, Baruch ben Neriah, and does not form part of the biblical canon of either Jews or Christians. It survives in certain Greek manuscripts, and also in a few Old Church Slavonic ones.
The Vision of Ezra is an ancient apocryphal text purportedly written by the biblical scribe Ezra. The earliest surviving manuscripts, composed in Latin, date to the 11th century AD, although textual peculiarities strongly suggest that the text was originally written in Greek. Like the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, the work is clearly Christian, and features several apostles being seen in heaven. However, the text is significantly shorter than the Apocalypse.
Richard John Bauckham is an English Anglican scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament studies, specialising in New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John. He is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
The Apocalypse of Elijah is an early Christian work written in the Coptic language commonly held to be a documentation of the oral presentation of multiple original and classical manuscripts. Presented in part as the direct word of the Hebrew God, Yahweh, to the biblical prophet Elijah, from where its name is derived, the text includes a short commentary on some early Christian fasting and prayer disciplines, a prophetic message about the kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt, and accounts of the presentation of the antichrist, his encounters with Elijah and Enoch, and his ultimate demise.
The Greek Apocalypse of Daniel is a Christian pseudepigraphic text attributed to the Biblical Daniel and so associated with the Hebrew Bible. However, no Jewish or Christian groups regard this text as canonical or indeed as authoritative scripture. The canonical Book of Daniel has much apocalyptic imagery, and this apocalyptic-style text deals with a similar subject, describing one particular vision of Daniel regarding the appearance and activities of the Antichrist before the Day of Judgement.
The Questions of Ezra is an ancient Christian apocryphal text, claimed to have been written by the Biblical Ezra. The earliest surviving manuscript, composed in Armenian, dates from 1208 CE. It is an example of the Christian development of topics coming out from the Jewish Apocalyptic literature. Due to the shortness of the book, it is impossible to determine the original language, the provenance or to reliably date it. This text has had no influence outside the Armenian Apostolic Church.
A biblical canon is a set of texts which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible.
Michael Edward Stone is a professor emeritus of Armenian Studies and of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research deals with Armenian studies and with Jewish literature and thought of the Second Temple period. He is also a published poet.
Zechariah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. As the first of the 14 chapters in the book, this chapter is a part of a section consisting of Zechariah 1-8. It records an introduction and the first two of eight visions received by the prophet.
The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ezra is a set of visions of the end times composed in the Syriac language sometime between the 7th and 12th centuries and attributed to Ezra. It is a short text of about seven manuscript pages. It recapitulates history in the form of prophecy using obscure animal imagery. Written to console Christians living under Islamic rule, it predicts the end of such rule in the Near East.
The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Ezra, also called the Falasha Apocalypse of Ezra, is an apocalypse written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) that circulated among the Beta Israel (Falasha) and foretold the divine destruction of Islam.
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