1 [This is the MS. frequently referred to in the previous pages. The Greek text of this fragment is given by Tischendorf in the supplement to Apocalypses Apocr., pp. 161-167.-R.]
2 Something seems to have fallen out here.
2 The other [Vienna] MS. has, eleven.
3 In some of the MSS. of the previous book the name of Matthew appears in place of that of Matthias-Matthaios for Mattheias.
5 The older [Vienna] MS. has: heretofore worshipping every evil thing.
6 The other [Paris] MS. has: having communicated in the Eucharist.
8 The other [Paris] MS. as Smyrna. Nicephorus calls it Myrmene.
9 Comp. Acts xviii. 9, xxiii. 11.
12 Lit., of the same form with him.
13 The other [Vienna] MS. has: for he neither ate nor drank, in his concern about these things.
14 The word thus translated is used by the LXX. in the sense of an asylum, or place of refuge.
15 Comp. Mark vii. 34. The addition of Jesus here shows that the writer did not know the meaning of the Aramaic word.
17 I should eb disposed to read e!kaion, set fire to, for e!kamnon, laboured.
18 The other [Vienna] MS. has: at our gods.
19 The other [Vienna] MS. adds: How my forefathers toiled, and with great trouble made the gods; and now, behold, they have been destroyed by one magician.
20 The change of person is noticable.
21 In the other MS. the king prays: And now, since there is still in me a little unbelief, I beseech thee that thou wilt bring the body of Matthew from the sea. For, behold, I will order the body to be thrown into the depths of the sea; and if thou deliver it as thou didst deliver it, in the funeral pile, I will forsake all my gods at onec, and believe in thee alone. [The Vienna MS., here cited, interpolates still more.-R.]
23 Ps. iii. 5 according to the LXX.
25 The meaning is not clera. The other MS. has: After one hour he sees in that place an image of a cross coming up from the depth of the sea. [The Vienna MS. varies more than this extract indicates.-R.]
26 The other [Vienna] MS. is much fuller here: And the cry of the multitude came to the king. And he asked: What is the uproar and shouting among the people? And he leraned that Matthew's coffin had shame of itself. Then, filled with great joy, the king straightway goes to the coffin, crying out, and saying with a loud voice: The God of Matthew is the only God, and there is none other but Him. And he fell on his face near the coffin, saying: Pardon me, Lord Jesus Christ, for what I have done against this holy man, for Iw as in ignorance. And the bishop, seeing the repentance and tears of the king, gave him a hand, and raised him from the ground, and said to him: Rise up, and be of good courage; for the Lord God hath accepted thy repentance and conversion through the good offices of His servant and apostle Thomas. And the king rose up from the ground, and fell at the bishop's feet, etc.-as in the text.
29 The other [Vienna] MS. has: And likewise his wife and his dauther-in-law deaconesses.
30 The other [Paris] MS. ends differently: And there came a voice, Peace to you, and joy, for there shall not be war nor stroke of sword in this city, because of Matthew, mine elect, whom I have loved for ever. Blessed are they who observe his memory, for they shall be glorified to ages of ages.
And the day of his commemoration shall be the fourteenth of the month of Gorpiaeus. Glory, honour, and worship to God, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages. [The Paris MS. is usually followed by Tischendorf. But in the three concluding paragrphs, as given in the text above, he follows the Vienna MS.-R.]
1 This lis tis a transcript of Matt. x. 2-4, except in the last name.
2 This double name is in accordance with a tradition preserved by Eusebius (H. E., i. 13), that the true name of Thomas was Judas.