indicate in a couple of examples the nature of the evidence.
When Judas Thomas is about to go away with Ṣîfûr the General to cure his wife and daughter he bids farewell to his converts, and says to them: "Be ye holding to us and looking at us as the ministers of God; though we also, if we do not take pains that we may be worthy of this name, punishment we shall receive, and for judgment and requital it will be to us" (Wright, Syriac Text 23711—14 = Bonnet, Acta Thomae 4813—16). The corresponding Greek has: "Remember us, as also we remember you: for unless we fulfil the burden of the commandments (τὸ τῶν ἐντολῶν φορτίον τελέσωμεν) we shall not be worthy heralds of the name of Christ, and moreover shall receive at the last punishment for our own heads (τὴν τιμωρίαν … τῆς ἑαυτῶν κεφαλῆς)". Here there is wide divergence, but a glance at the Syriac at once reveals its origin. The Syriac idiom for 'to take pains' is literally 'to take up the burden' and a word-for-word rendering of the Syriac in this passage would be "if we do not
