and Anna her mother because they had offered to the Lord Mary the mother of Jesus.[1] And this Mary was called by the like name of Mary for the comfort of her parents. And when they assembled Jesus sanctified and blessed them, and began himself first to eat and drink: for none of them dared eat or drink, nor sit at table or break bread, till he had sanctified them and first done this. And if he by chance was absent they waited till he did this. And when he would not come to the repast, neither did Joseph and Mary and his brethren the sons of Joseph come. These brethren, indeed, having his life before their eyes as a light, regarded and feared him. And when Jesus slept, whether by day or by night, the brightness of God shone on him. To him be all praise for ever and ever. Amen. Amen.[2]
- ↑ According to the MS. which Tischendorf calls B, the reading is: "And when Joseph, being worn out with old age, was dead and buried with his parents, the blessed Mary was with her nephews or with the children of her sisters. For Anna and Emerina were sisters. Of Emerina was born Elisabeth the mother of John the Baptist. Now because Anna the mother of the Blessed Mary was very lovely, when Joachim died, she married Cleophas, by whom she had a second daughter, whom she called Mary, and gave her to Alphæus to wife, and of her came James the son of Alphæus, and Philip his brother. When her second husband was dead, Anna was married to a third husband, named Salome, by whom she had a third daughter, whom she likewise called Mary, and gave her to Zebedee to wife: of her was born James the son of Zebedee, and John the Evangelist." Another account is prefixed to this false Gospel in a copy used by Tischendorf, who quotes the passage (Evang. Apocr., p. 104).
- ↑ The MS. called B concludes in a rather different manner, and has the following appended: "The holy apostle and evangelist John with his own hand wrote this book set forth in Hebrew letters which the learned doctor Jerome translated out of Hebrew into Latin." The title and one of the letters prefixed to the book just as plainly ascribe the writing to the evangelist Matthew, and just as truly.
