book is variously named by ancient writers. In the decree of Gelasius (a.d. 495) he condemns it as Evangelium nomine Jacobi minoris apocryphum. The text of Tischendorf, here translated, is somewhat l

book is variously named by ancient writers. In the decree of Gelasius (a.d. 495) he condemns it as Evangelium nomine Jacobi minoris apocryphum. The text of Tischendorf, here translated, is somewhat less diffuse than that of Fabricius, and is based on manuscript evidence. The variations are verbal and formal rather than material.--R.] [1555] Susanna i. 4. [1556] The readings vary, and the sense is doubtful. Thilo thinks that the sense is: What I offer over and above what the law requires is for the benefit of the whole people; but the offering I make for my own forgiveness (according to the law's requirements) shall be to the Lord, that He may be rendered merciful to me. [1557] The Church of Rome appoints March 20 as the Feast of St. Joachim. His liberality is commemorated in prayers, and the lessons to be read are Wisd. xxxi. and Matt. i. [1558] 1 Sam. i. 6, 7; Hos. ix. 14. [1559] Another reading is: In his last days. [1560] Another reading is: Into the hill-country. [1561] Moses: Ex. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9. Elijah: 1 Kings xix. 8. Christ: Matt. iv. 2. [1562] The 26th day of July is the Feast of St. Anna in the Church of Rome. [1563] Other forms of the name are Juth, Juthin. [1564] Some mss. have: For I am thy maid-servant, and thou hast a regal appearance. [1565] Severalmss. insert: Thou hast not listened to my voice; for. [1566] Comp. 1 Sam. i. 9-18. [1567] Tobit ii. 10. [1568] Many of themss. here add: Alas! to what have I been likened? I am not like the waves of the sea, because even the waves of the sea, in calm and storm, and the fishes in them, bless Thee, O Lord. [1569] 1 Sam. i. 11. [1570] One of themss.: With his shepherds, and sheep, and goats, and oxen. [1571] Ex. xxviii. 36-38. For traditions about the petalon, see Euseb., H. E., ii. 23, iii. 31, v. 24; Epiph., Hær., 78. [1572] Various readings are: Sixth, seventh, eighth. [1573] One of the MSS inserts: On the eighth day. [1574] One of themss. has nine. [1575] This is the reading of most mss.; but it is difficult to see any sense in it. One ms. reads: They attended on her. Fabricius proposed: They bathed her. [1576] Two of themss. add: And they gave her the name of Mary, because her name shall not fade forever. This derivation of the name--from the root mar, fade--is one of a dozen or so. [1577] This is taken to mean: Send someone to us to warn us that we have been too long in paying our vow. One ms. reads, lest the Lord depart from us; another, lest the Lord move away from us. [1578] Or, fourteen. Postel's Latin version has ten. [1579] Ex. xxviii. 28; Sirach xlv. 9; Justin, Tryph., xlii. [1580] Num. xvi. 31-33. [1581] Lit., undefiled. It is difficult to say what colour is meant, or if it is a colour at all. The word is once used to mean the sea, but with no reference to colour. It is also the name of a stone of a greenish hue. [1582] Lit., hyacinth. [1583] Ex. xxv. 4. [1584] Luke i. 28. [1585] Luke i. 39, 40. [1586] Other readings are: the wool--what she had in her hand. [1587] Luke i. 34, 44. [1588] Luke i. 48. [1589] Six mss. have sixteen; one, fourteen; two, fifteen; and one, seventeen. [1590] The Latin translation has hung down. [1591] Ezek. xxi. 12; Jer. xxxi. 19. [1592] Two mss.: her. [1593] Another reading is: As Adam was in Paradise, and in the hour of the singing of praise (doxology) to God was with the angels, the serpent, etc. [1594] Matt. i. 19. [1595] Lit., angelic; one ms. has holy; the Latin translation, following a slightly different reading, that it would not be fair to her. [1596] Matt. i. 20. [1597] Three mss. have high priest. [1598] Num. v. 11, ff. [1599] Luke ii. 1. [1600] Or: On this day of the Lord I will do, etc. [1601] Another reading is: And his son Samuel led it, and James and Simon followed. [1602] Bethlehem...used to be overshadowed by a grove of Thammuz, i.e., Adonis; and in the cave where Christ formerly wailed as an infant, they used to mourn for the beloved of Venus (Jerome to Paulinus). In his letter to Sabinianus the cave is repeatedly mentioned: "That cave in which the Son of God was born;" "that venerable cave," etc., "within the door of what was once the Lord's manger, now the altar." "Then you run to the place of the shepherds." There appears also to have been above the altar the figure of an angel, or angels. See also Justin, Tryph., 78. [1603] Two mss. here add: And thou Bethlehem, etc., from Mic. v. 2. [1604] Matt. ii. 1-12. One of the mss. here adds Matt. ii. 13-15, with two or three slight variations. [1605] Four mss. have all the male children, as in Matt. ii. 16. [1606] Another reading is: And Herod, enraged at this, ordered him to be slain in the midst of the altar before the dawn, that the slaying of him might not be prevented by the people. [This incident was probably suggested by the reference to "Zacharias the son of Barachias" in Matt. xxiii. 35, Luke xi. 51; but comp. 2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22.--R.] [1607] Lit., the blessing of Zacharias did not come forth, etc. [1608] Or, with prayer. [1609] Another reading is: And was rent from the top, etc. [1610] Luke ii. 26. One of the mss. here adds Matt. ii. 19-23, with two or three verbal changes. [1611] [Assuming that this is among the most ancient of the Apocryphal Gospels, it is noteworthy that the writer abstains from elaborating his statements on points fully narrated in the Canonical Gospels. The supplementary character of the earliest of these writings is obvious. But what a contrast between the impressive silence of the New Testament narratives, and the garrulity, not to say indelicacy, of these detailed descriptions of the Nativity!--R.] [1612] The mss. vary much in the doxology. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. ------------------------ Here beginneth the book of the Birth of the Blessed Mary and the Infancy of the Saviour. Written in Hebrew by the Blessed Evangelist Matthew, and translated into Latin by the Blessed Presbyter Jerome. To their well-beloved brother Jerome the Presbyter, Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus in the Lord, greeting. The birth of the Virgin Mary, and the nativity and infancy of our Lord Jesus Christ, we find in apocryphal books. But considering that in them many things contrary to our faith are written, we have believed that they ought all to be rejected, lest perchance we should transfer the joy of Christ to Antichrist. [1613] While, therefore, we were considering these things, there came holy men, Parmenius and Varinus, who said that your Holiness had found a Hebrew volume, written by the hand of the most blessed Evangelist Matthew, in which also the birth of the virgin mother herself, and the infancy of our Saviour, were written. And accordingly we entreat your affection by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, to render it from the Hebrew into Latin, [1614] not so much for the attainment of those things which are the insignia of Christ, as for the exclusion of the craft of heretics, who, in order to teach bad doctrine, have mingled their own lies with the excellent nativity of Christ, that by the sweetness of life they might hide the bitterness of death. It will therefore become your purest piety, either to listen to us as your brethren entreating, or to let us have as bishops exacting, the debt of affection which you may deem due. Reply to Their Letter by Jerome. To my lords the holy and most blessed Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus, Jerome, a humble servant of Christ, in the Lord greeting. He who digs in ground where he knows that there is gold, [1615] does not instantly snatch at whatever the uptorn trench may pour forth; but, before the stroke of the quivering spade raises aloft the glittering mass, he meanwhile lingers over the sods to turn them over and lift them up, and especially he who has not added to his gains. An arduous task is enjoined upon me, since what your Blessedness has commanded me, the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew himself did not write for the purpose of publishing. For if he had not done it somewhat secretly, he would have added it also to his Gospel which he published. But he composed this book in Hebrew; and so little did he publish it, that at this day the book written in Hebrew by his own hand is in the possession of very religious men, to whom in successive periods of time it has been handed down by those that were before them. And this book they never at any time gave to any one to translate. And so it came to pass, that when it was published by a disciple of Manichæus named Leucius, who also wrote the falsely styled Acts of the Apostles, this