Secret Scriptures Revealed by Tony Burke

Author:Tony Burke
Format: epub
Publisher: SPCK

Sources and studies

Most of the Pilate Cycle texts discussed here can be found in Ehrman–Pleše, The Apocryphal Gospels.

The Descent into Hell

Jesus was sent to earth to bring salvation to humanity. But what about the righteous who perished before the arrival of Jesus? The matriarchs and patriarchs of the Hebrew Scriptures – Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Esther – are they not also worthy of salvation? According to Christian teaching, at his death, Jesus descended to hell to preach to the dead, and those who responded to his teachings followed him into paradise. The doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell, as it is called, has some biblical support – according to 1 Peter, Jesus, after his death, ‘went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison’ (3.19) and later the letter states, ‘the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead’ (4.6). Early Church writers, such as Justin Martyr and Augustine, echoed and expanded upon 1 Peter’s remarks. But the most elaborate treatment of the doctrine is found in the Descent into Hell (or the Descensus ad Inferos), a section of the Latin versions of the Acts of Pilate (called the Gospel of Nicodemus, but also found in the Greek B version of the Acts of Pilate).

The text begins with Joseph of Arimathea reporting to Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests at Jesus’ trial, about the dead saints who have been seen roaming around Jerusalem (see Matthew 27.52–54). Two of these saints, Karinus and Leucius, identified as the sons of Simeon (the ‘righteous and devout’ man who blesses the infant Jesus in Luke 2.25–35), are interrogated by the Jewish leaders. The remainder of the text is an account of everything they saw and heard. We learn that Satan and Hades – the Greek god of the underworld, presented here both as a speaking character and as the underworld itself – conspired to have Jesus killed and now Satan needs to keep Jesus within Hades. Jesus arrives in Hades in might and glory:

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