435The Gospel of Nicodemus.

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Part II.—The Descent of Christ into Hell.

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Greek Form.

Chapter 1 (17).

Joseph says:  And why do you wonder that Jesus has risen?  But it is wonderful that He has not risen alone, but that He has also raised many others of the dead who have appeared in Jerusalem to many.^19301930    Matt. xxvii. 53.  And if you do not know the others, Symeon at least, who received Jesus, and his two sons whom He has raised up—them at least you know.  For we buried them not long ago; but now their tombs are seen open and empty, and they are alive, and dwelling in Arimathæa.  They therefore sent men, and they found their tombs open and empty.  Joseph says:  Let us go to Arimathæa and find them.

Then rose up the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas, and Joseph, and Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, and others with them, and went away to Arimathæa, and found those whom Joseph spoke of.  They made prayer, therefore, and saluted each other.  Then they came with them to Jerusalem, and brought them into the synagogue, and secured the doors, and placed in the midst the old covenant of the Jews; and the chief priests said to them:  We wish you to swear by the God of Israel and Adonai, and so that you tell the truth, how you have risen, and who has raised you from the dead.

The men who had risen having heard this, made upon their faces the sign of the cross, and said to the chief priests:  Give us paper and ink and pen.  These therefore they brought.  And sitting down, they wrote thus:—