full of darkness! O death exulting in them that are thine! O fruitless tree full of fire! O tree that
bearest coals for fruit! O matter that dwellest with the madness of matter (al. O wood of trees full
of unwholesome shoots) and neighbour of unbelief! Thou hast proved who thou art, and thou art
always convicted, with thy children. And thou knowest not how to praise the better things: for
thou hast them not. Therefore, such as is thy way (?fruit), such also is thy root and thy nature. Be
thou destroyed from among them that trust in the Lord: from their thoughts, from their mind,
from their souls, from their bodies, from their acts) their life, their conversation, from their
business, their occupations, their counsel, from the resurrection unto (or rest in) God, from their
sweet savour wherein thou wilt share, from their faith, their prayers, from the holy bath, from the
eucharist, from the food of the flesh, from drink, from clothing, from love, from care, from
abstinence, from righteousness: from all these, thou most unholy Satan, enemy of God, shall
Jesus Christ our God and of all that are like thee and have thy character, make thee to perish.
85 And having thus said, John prayed, and took bread and bare it into the sepulchre to break it;
and said: We glorify thy name, which converteth us from error and ruthless deceit: we glorify
thee who hast shown before our eyes that which we have seen: we bear witness to thy loving-
kindness which appeareth in divers ways: we praise thy merciful name, O Lord (we thank thee),
who hast convicted them that are convicted of thee: we give thanks to thee, O Lord Jesu Christ,
that we are persuaded of thy which is unchanging: we give thanks to thee who hadst need of our
nature that should be saved: we give thanks to thee that hast given us this sure , for thou art
alone, both now and ever. We thy servants give thee thanks, O holy one, who are assembled with
intent and are gathered out of the world (or risen from death).
86 And having so prayed and given glory to God, he went out of the sepulchre after imparting
unto all the brethren of the eucharist of the Lord. And when he was come unto Andronicus'
house he said to the brethren: Brethren, a spirit within me hath divined that Fortunatus is about to
die of blackness (poisoning of the blood) from the bite of the serpent; but let some one go
quickly and learn if it is so indeed. And one of the young men ran and found him dead and the
blackness spreading over him, and it had reached his heart: and came and told John that he had
been dead three hours. And John said: Thou hast thy child, O devil.
'John therefore was with the brethren rejoicing in the Lord.' This sentence is in the best
manuscript. In Bonnet's edition It introduces the last section of the Acts, which follows
immediately in the manuscript. It may belong to either episode. The Latin has: And that day he
spent joyfully with the brethren.
There cannot be much of a gap between this and the next section, which is perhaps the most
interesting in the Acts.
The greater part of this episode is preserved only in one very corrupt fourteenth-century
manuscript at Vienna. Two important passages ( 93 - 5 (part) and 97 - 8 (part)) were read at the
Second Nicene Council and are preserved in the Acts thereof: a few lines of the Hymn are also
cited in Latin by Augustine (Ep. 237 ( 253 ) to Ceretius): he found it current separately among the
Priscillianists. The whole discourse is the best popular exposition we have of the Docetic view of
our Lord's person.
87 Those that were present inquired the cause, and were especially perplexed, because Drusiana
had said: The Lord appeared unto me in the tomb in the likeness of John, and in that of a youth.
Forasmuch, therefore, as they were perplexed and were, in a manner, not yet stablished in the
faith, so as to endure it steadfastly, John said (or John bearing it patiently, said):
ron
(Ron)
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