Apocalypse of Paul


The Apocalypse of Paul is a third-century non-canonical apocalypse considered part of the New Testament apocrypha. The original Greek version of the Apocalypse is lost, although heavily redacted versions still exist. Using later versions and translations, the text has been reconstructed. The text is not to be confused with the gnostic Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, which is unlikely to be related.
The text, which is pseudepigraphal, purports to present a detailed account of a vision of Heaven and Hell experienced by Paul the Apostle; "its chief importance lies in the way it helped to shape the beliefs of ordinary Christians concerning the afterlife".

Origins and content

The text is primarily focused on a detailed account of Heaven and Hell. It appears to be an elaborate expansion and rearrangement of the Apocalypse of Peter, although it differs in some ways. It contains a prologue describing all of creation appealing to God against the sin of man, which is not present in the Apocalypse of Peter. At the end of the text, Paul or the Virgin Mary manages to persuade God to give everyone in Hell a day off every Sunday.
The text expands upon the Apocalypse of Peter by framing the reasons for the visits to heaven and hell as the witnessing of the death and judgement of one wicked man and one righteous man. The text is heavily moralistic, and adds, to the Apocalypse of Peter, features such as:
The plan of the text is:
Greek copies of the texts are rare; those that exist contain many omissions. Of the Eastern versions - Syriac, Coptic, Amharic, Georgian - the Syriac are considered to be the most reliable. There is an Ethiopic version of the apocalypse which features the Virgin Mary in the place of Paul the Apostle, as the receiver of the vision, known as the Apocalypse of the Virgin.
The lost Greek original was translated into Latin as the Visio Pauli, and was widely copied, with extensive variation coming into the tradition as the text was adapted to suit different historical and cultural contexts; by the eleventh century, there were perhaps three main independent editions of the text. From these diverse Latin texts, many subsequent vernacular versions were translated, into most European languages, prominently including German and Czech.
The Visio Pauli also influenced a range of other texts again. It is particularly noted for its influence in the Dante's Inferno, when Dante mentions the visit of the "Chosen Vessel" to Hell. The Visio is also considered to have influenced the description of Grendel's home in the Old English poem Beowulf.