104
NON-CANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
like stone, so that I was perplexed in myself and said, ‘What does this mean?’ And when I was thinking of these things. . . .3
90
“At another time he took me and James and Peter to the mountain, where he used to pray, and we beheld such a light on him that it is not possible for a man who uses mortal speech to describe what it was like. Again in a similar way he led us three up to the mountain saying, ‘Come with me.’ And we went again and saw him at a distance praying. Now I, because he loved me, went to him quietly as though he should not see, and stood looking upon his back. And I saw that he was not dressed in garments, but was seen by us as naked and not at all like a man; his feet were whiter than snow, so that the ground there was lit up by his feet, and his head reached to heaven; so that I was afraid and cried out, and he turned and appeared as a man of small stature, and took hold of my beard and pulled it and said to me, ‘John, be not unbelieving, but believing, and not inquisitive.’ And I said to him, ‘What have I done, Lord?’ And I tell you brethren, I suffered such pain for thirty days at the place where he took hold of my beard, that I said unto him, ‘Lord, if your playful tug has given me so much pain, what if you had given me a beating?’ And he said to me, ‘Let it be your concern from henceforth not to tempt him who is not to be tempted.’
91
“But Peter and James were an gry because I spoke with the Lord and beckoned me to come to them and leave the Lord alone. And I went, and they both said to me, ‘Who was speaking to the Lord when he was on top of the mountain, for we heard both of them speaking?’ And I, when I consid ered his great grace and his unity which
has many faces, and his wisdom which without ceasing looked upon us, said, ‘This you shall learn if you ask him.’
92
“Again when all of us disciples were once sleeping in a house at Gennesaret, after wrapping myself up I watched what he did, and first I heard him say, ‘John, go to sleep.’ And thereupon I feigned to be asleep; and I saw another like him whom I also heard saying to my Lord, ‘Jesus, those whom you have chosen still do not believe in you.’ And my Lord said to him, ‘You are right, for they are men.’
93
“Another glory I will tell you, brethren. Sometimes when I meant to touch him, I met a material and solid body; and at other times again when I felt him, the substance was immaterial and bodiless and as if it were not existing at all. Now, if at any time he were invited by one of the Pharisees and went where he was invited, we went with him. And there was set before each one of us a loaf of bread by our host, and he also received a loaf. And he would bless his own and divide it amongst us; and from that little piece each of us was filled, and our own loaves were saved intact, so that those who had invited him were amazed. And often when I was walking with him I wished to see whether the print of his foot appeared upon the earth—for I saw him raising himself from the earth—but I never saw it. Now, these things, dear brethren, I speak to you to encourage you in your faith towards him, for we must at the present keep silent about his mighty and wonderful works, inasmuch as they are mysteries and doubtless cannot be uttered or heard.
3
Gap in text.