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This work, probably written in the 6th or 7th century, is written as a recounting of the life of Joseph by his Son Jesus while Jesus was on the Mount of Oives. It contains a number of ancient Church traditions. Uniquely, the work claims that Joseph lived to the age of 111.
In the Name of God, of one essence and three persons.
The history of the death of our father, the holy old man, Joseph the carpenter.
May his blessings and prayers preserve us all, O brothers. Amen!
His whole life was one hundred and eleven years, and his departure from this world happened on the twenty-sixth of the month Abib, which answers to the month Ab. May his prayer preserve us! Amen. And indeed, it was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who related this history to His holy disciples on the Mount of Olives, and all Joseph’s labor, and the end of his days. And the holy apostles have preserved this conversation and have left it written down in the library at Jerusalem. May their prayers preserve us! Amen.
1 It happened one day, when the Savior, our Master, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, was sitting along with His disciples, and they were all assembled on the Mount of Olives, that He said to them: “O My brothers and friends, sons of the Father who has chosen you from all men, you know that I have often told you that I must be crucified, and must die for the salvation of Adam and his posterity, and that I will rise from the dead. 2 Now I will commit to you the doctrine of the sacred good news formerly announced to you, that you may declare it throughout the whole world. And I will endow you with power from on high and fill you with the Holy Spirit. 3 And you will declare to all nations conversion and forgiveness of sins. For a single cup of water, if a man will find it in the world to come, is greater and better than all the wealth of this whole world. And as much ground as one foot can occupy in the house of My Father, is greater and more excellent than all the riches of the earth. 4 Yes, a single hour in the joyful dwelling of the pious is more blessed and more precious than one thousand years among sinners: inasmuch as their weeping and lamentation will not come to an end, and their tears will not cease, nor will they find for themselves consolation and repose at any time forever. 5 And now, O My honored members, go declare to all nations, tell them, and say to them: “Truly the Savior diligently inquires into the inheritance which is due, and is the administrator of justice. 6 And the messengers will cast down their enemies and will fight for them in the day of conflict. And He will examine every single foolish and idle word which men speak, and they will give an account of it. For as no one will escape death, so also the works of every man will be laid open on the day of judgment, whether they have been good or evil.” 7 Tell them also this word which I have said to you today: “Do not let the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but let him who wishes to glory, glory in the Lord.”
1 There was a man whose name was Joseph, sprung from a family of Beth-Lehem, a town of Judah, and the city of King David. 2 This same man, being well furnished with wisdom and learning, was made a priest in the temple of the Lord. He was, besides, skillful in his trade, which was that of a carpenter; and after the manner of all men, he married a wife. 3 Moreover, he begot for himself sons and daughters: four sons, namely, and two daughters. Now these are their names: Judas, Justus, James, and Simon. 4 The names of the two daughters were Assia and Lydia. Eventually the wife of righteous Joseph, a woman intent on the divine glory in all her works, departed this life. 5 But Joseph, that righteous man, My father after the flesh, and the spouse of My mother Mary, went away with his sons to his trade, practicing the art of a carpenter.
1 Now when righteous Joseph became a widower, My mother Mary—blessed, holy, and pure—was already twelve years old. 2 For her parents offered her in the temple when she was three years of age, and she remained in the temple of the Lord nine years. 3 Then when the priests saw that the virgin, holy and God-fearing, was growing up, they spoke to each other, saying, “Let us search for a man, righteous and pious, to whom Mary may be entrusted until the time of her marriage; 4 lest, if she remain in the temple, it happen to her as is customary to happen to women, and lest on that account we sin, and God be angry with us.
1 Therefore, they immediately sent for and assembled twelve old men of the tribe of Judah. 2 And they wrote down the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the lot fell on the pious old man, righteous Joseph. 3 Then the priests answered and said to My blessed mother: “Go with Joseph and be with him until the time of your marriage.” 4 Therefore, righteous Joseph received My mother and led her away to his own house. And Mary found James the Lesser in his father’s house, broken-hearted and sad on account of the loss of his mother, and she brought him up. 5 Hence Mary was called the mother of James. 6 Thereafter, Joseph left her at home and went away to the shop where he worked at his trade as a carpenter. 7 And after the holy virgin had spent two years in his house, her age was exactly fourteen years, including the time at which he received her.
1 And I chose her of My own will, with the concurrence of My Father, and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. And I was made flesh of her, by a mystery which transcends the grasp of created reason. 2 And three months after her conception, the righteous man Joseph returned from the place where he worked at his trade; and when he found My virgin mother pregnant, he was greatly perplexed and thought of sending her away secretly. 3 But from fear, and sorrow, and the anguish of his heart, he could endure neither to eat nor drink that day.
1 But at midday there appeared to him in a dream the prince of the messengers, the holy Gabriel, furnished with a command from My Father; and he said to him: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for she has conceived of the Holy Spirit; 2 and she will bring forth a Son, whose Name will be called Jesus. It is He who will rule all nations with a rod of iron.” 3 Having thus spoken, the messenger departed from him. And Joseph rose from his sleep and did as the messenger of the Lord had said to him; and Mary abode with him.
1 Sometime after that, there came forth an order from Augustus Cæsar the king, that all the habitable world should be enrolled—each man in his own city. 2 Therefore, the old man, righteous Joseph, rose up and took the virgin Mary and came to Beth-Lehem, because the time of her bringing forth was at hand. 3 Joseph then inscribed his name in the list, for Joseph the son of David, whose spouse Mary was, was of the tribe of Judah. 4 And indeed Mary, My mother, brought Me forth in Beth-Lehem, in a cave near the tomb of Rachel the wife of the patriarch Jacob, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
1 But Satan went and told this to Herod the Great, the father of Archelaus. 2 And it was this same Herod who ordered My friend and relative John to be beheaded. 3 Accordingly, he searched for Me diligently, thinking that My kingdom was to be of this world. But Joseph, that pious old man, was warned of this by a dream. 4 Therefore, he rose and took My mother Mary, and I lay in her bosom. Salome was also their fellow-traveler. 5 Having therefore set out from home, he retired into Egypt, and remained there the span of one whole year, until the hatred of Herod passed away.
1 Now Herod died by the worst form of death, atoning for the shedding of the blood of the children whom he wickedly cut off, though there was no sin in them. 2 And that impious tyrant Herod being dead, they returned into the land of Israel and lived in a city of Galilee which is called Nazareth. 3 And Joseph, going back to his trade as a carpenter, earned his living by the work of his hands; for, as the Law of Moses had commanded, he never sought to live for nothing by another’s labor.
1 Finally, by increasing years, the old man arrived at a very advanced age. He did not, however, labor under any bodily weakness, nor had his sight failed, nor had any tooth perished from his mouth. 2 In mind also, for the whole time of his life, he never wandered; but like a boy, he always displayed youthful vigor in his business, and his limbs remained unimpaired and free from all pain. 3 His life, then, in all, amounted to one hundred and eleven years—his old age being prolonged to the utmost limit.
1 Now Justus and Simeon, the elder sons of Joseph, were married and had families of their own. Both the daughters were likewise married and lived in their own houses. 2 So there remained in Joseph’s house, Judas and James the Lesser, and My virgin mother. 3 Moreover, I dwelt along with them, not otherwise than if I had been one of his sons. But I passed all My life without fault. 4 I called Mary My mother, and Joseph father, and I obeyed them in all that they said; nor did I ever contend against them, but complied with their commands, as other men whom earth produces are accustomed to do; nor did I at any time arouse their anger, or give any word or answer in opposition to them. 5 On the contrary, I cherished them with great love, like the pupil of My eye.
1 It came to pass, after these things, that the death of that old man, the pious Joseph, and his departure from this world, were approaching, as happens to other men who owe their origin to this earth. 2 And as his body was on the verge of dissolution, a messenger of the Lord informed him that his death was now close at hand. 3 Therefore, fear and great perplexity came on him. 4 So he rose up and went to Jerusalem; and going into the temple of the Lord, he poured out his prayers there before the sanctuary, and he said:
1 “O God! Author of all consolation, God of all compassion, and Lord of the whole human race; God of my soul, body, and spirit; with supplications I honor you, O Lord and my God. 2 If my days are now ended, and the time draws near when I must leave this world, send me, I beg You, the great Michael, the prince of Your holy messengers: 3 let him remain with me, that my wretched soul may depart from this afflicted body without trouble, without terror and impatience. 4 For great fear and intense sadness take hold of all bodies on the day of their death, whether it be man or woman, beast wild or tame, or whatever creeps on the ground or flies in the air. In the end, all creatures under [the] sky in whom is the breath of life are struck with horror, and their souls depart from their bodies with strong fear and great depression. 5 Now therefore, O Lord and my God, let Your holy messenger be present with his help to my soul and body, until they will be severed from each other. 6 And do not let the face of the messenger, appointed my guardian from the day of my birth, be turned away from me; but may he be the companion of my journey even until he brings me to You: 7 let his countenance be pleasant and cheerful to me, and let him accompany me in peace. 8 And do not let demons of frightful appearance come near me in the way in which I am to go, until I come to You in bliss. 9 And do not let the doorkeepers hinder my soul from entering paradise. 10 And do not uncover my sins and expose me to condemnation before Your terrible tribunal. 11 Do not let the lions rush in on me; nor let the waves of the sea of fire overwhelm my soul—for this must every soul pass through—before I have seen the glory of Your Godhead. 12 O God, most righteous Judge, who in justice and equity will judge mankind, and will render to each one according to his works, O Lord and my God, I beg You: 13 be present to me in Your compassion and enlighten my path that I may come to You; for You are a fountain overflowing with all good things, and with glory forevermore. Amen.”
1 It came to pass thereafter, when he returned to his own house in the city of Nazareth, that he was seized by disease, and had to remain in his bed. 2 And it was at this time that he died, according to the destiny of all mankind. For this disease was very heavy on him, and he had never been ill, as he now was, from the day of his birth. 3 And thus, it assuredly pleased Christ to order the destiny of righteous Joseph. 4 He lived forty years unmarried; thereafter his wife remained under his care [for] forty-nine years and then died. 5 And a year after her death, my mother, the blessed Mary, was entrusted to him by the priests, that he should keep her until the time of her marriage. 6 She spent two years in his house; and in the third year of her stay with Joseph, in the fifteenth year of her age, she brought Me forth on earth by a mystery which no creature can penetrate or understand, except Myself, and My Father, and the Holy Spirit, constituting one essence with Myself.
1 The whole age of My father, therefore, that righteous old man, was one hundred and eleven years, My Father in Heaven having so decreed. 2 And the day on which his soul left his body was the twenty-sixth of the month Abib. 3 For now, the fine gold began to lose its splendor, and the silver to be worn down by use—I mean his understanding and his wisdom. 4 He also loathed food and drink and lost all his skill in his trade of carpentry, nor did he pay attention to it anymore. 5 It came to pass, then, in the early dawn of the twenty-sixth day of Abib, that Joseph, that righteous old man, lying in his bed, was giving up his restless soul. 6 Therefore, he opened his mouth with many sighs and struck his hands against one another, and with a loud voice cried out and spoke after the following manner:
1 “Woe to the day on which I was born into the world! Woe to the womb which bore me! 2 Woe to the bowels which admitted me! Woe to the breasts which suckled me! 3 Woe to the feet on which I sat and rested! Woe to the hands which carried me and reared me until I grew up! 4 For I was conceived in iniquity, and in sins my mother desired me. 5 Woe to my tongue and my lips, which have brought forth and spoken vanity, slander, falsehood, ignorance, derision, idle tales, craft, and hypocrisy! 6 Woe to my eyes, which have looked on scandalous things! Woe to my ears, which have delighted in the words of slanderers! 7 Woe to my hands, which have seized what did not of right belong to them! Woe to my belly and my bowels, which have lusted after food unlawful to be eaten! 8 Woe to my throat, which like a fire has consumed all that it found! Woe to my feet, which have too often walked in ways displeasing to God! 9 Woe to my body! And woe to my miserable soul, which has already turned aside from God its Maker! 10 What will I do when I arrive at that place where I must stand before the most righteous Judge, and when He will call me to account for the works which I have heaped up in my youth? Woe to every man dying in his sins! 11 Assuredly that same dreadful hour, which came on my father Jacob, when his soul was flying forth from his body, is now, behold, near at hand for me. 12 Oh, how wretched I am this day and worthy of lamentation! But God alone is the disposer of my soul and body; He also will deal with them after His own good pleasure.”
1 These are the words spoken by Joseph, that righteous old man. 2 And I, going in beside him, found his soul exceedingly troubled, for he was placed in great perplexity. 3 And I said to him: “Hail, My father Joseph, you righteous man; how is it with you?” 4 And he answered me: “All hail! My well-beloved Son. Indeed, the agony and fear of death have already surrounded me; but as soon as I heard Your voice, my soul was at rest. 5 O Jesus of Nazareth! Jesus, my Savior! Jesus, the deliverer of my soul! Jesus, my protector! 6 Jesus! O sweetest Name in my mouth, and in the mouth of all those that love it! O eye which sees, and ear which hears, hear me! 7 I am Your servant; this day I most humbly honor You, and before Your face I pour out my tears. You are altogether my God; 8 You are my Lord, as the messenger has told me times without number, and especially on that day when my soul was driven around with perverse thoughts about the pure and blessed Mary, who was carrying You in her womb, and whom I was thinking of secretly sending away. 9 And while I was thus meditating, behold, there appeared to me in my rest messengers of the Lord, saying to me in a wonderful mystery: 10 O Joseph, you son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife; and do not grieve your soul, nor speak improper words of her conception, because she is with child of the Holy Spirit, and will bring forth a Son, whose Name will be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. 11 Do not for this reason wish me evil, O Lord! For I was ignorant of the mystery of Your birth. 12 I call to mind also, my Lord, that day when the boy died of the bite of the serpent. 13 And his relations wished to deliver You to Herod, saying that You had killed him; but You raised him from the dead and restored him to them. 14 Then I went up to You, and took hold of Your hand, saying, My son, take care of Yourself. 15 But You said to me in reply: Are you not My father after the flesh? I will teach you who I am. 16 Now therefore, O Lord and my God, do not be angry with me, or condemn me on account of that hour. 17 I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaiden; but You are my Lord, my God and Savior, most certainly the Son of God.”
1 When My father Joseph had thus spoken, he was unable to weep [any]more. And I saw that death now had dominion over him. 2 And my mother, undefiled virgin, rose and came to me, saying, “O my beloved Son, this pious old man Joseph is now dying.” 3 And I answered: “Oh, My dearest mother, assuredly on all creatures produced in this world the same necessity of death lies; for death holds sway over the whole human race. 4 Even you, O My virgin mother, must look for the same end of life as other mortals. 5 And yet your death, as also the death of this pious man, is not death, but life enduring to eternity. 6 No, [even] more—even I must die, as concerns the body which I have received from you. 7 But rise, O My venerable mother, and go in to Joseph, that blessed old man, in order that you may see what will happen as his soul ascends from his body.”
1 My undefiled mother Mary, therefore, went and entered the place where Joseph was. And I was sitting at his feet looking at him, for the signs of death already appeared in his countenance. 2 And that blessed old man raised his head and kept his eyes fixed on My face; but he had no power of speaking to Me, on account of the agonies of death, which held him in their grasp. 3 But he kept fetching many sighs. And I held his hands for a whole hour; and he turned his face to Me and made signs for Me not to leave him. 4 Thereafter, I put My hand on his breast, and perceived his soul now near his throat, preparing to depart from its receptacle.
1 And when My virgin mother saw Me touching his body, she also touched his feet. 2 And finding them already dead and destitute of heat, she said to Me: “O my beloved Son, assuredly his feet are already beginning to stiffen, and they are as cold as snow.” 3 Accordingly, she summoned his sons and daughters and said to them: “Come, as many as there are of you, and go to your father, for he is now assuredly at the very point of death.” 4 And Assia, his daughter, answered and said, “Woe is me, O my brothers! This is certainly the same disease that my beloved mother died of.” 5 And she lamented and shed tears; and all Joseph’s other children mourned along with her. 6 I also, and My mother Mary, wept along with them.
1 And turning My eyes toward the region of the south, I saw Death already approaching, and all Gehenna with him, closely attended by his army and his escorts; and their clothes, their faces, and their mouths poured forth flames. 2 And when My father Joseph saw them coming straight to him, his eyes dissolved in tears, and at the same time he groaned after a strange manner. 3 Accordingly, when I saw the vehemence of his sighs, I drove back Death and all the host of servants which accompanied him. And I called on My good Father, saying:
1 “O Father of all mercy, eye which see, and ear which hear, listen to My prayers and supplications in behalf of the old man Joseph; 2 and send Michael, the prince of Your messengers, and Gabriel, the herald of light, and all the light of Your messengers, and let their whole array walk with the soul of My father Joseph, until they will have conducted it to You. 3 This is the hour in which My father has need of compassion. And I say to You, that all the saints, yes, as many men as are born in the world, whether they are just or whether they are perverse, must necessarily taste death.”
1 Therefore, Michael and Gabriel came to the soul of My father Joseph, and took it, and wrapped it in a shining wrapper. 2 Thus, he committed his spirit into the hands of My good Father, and He bestowed on him peace. 3 But as of yet, none of his children knew that he had fallen asleep. 4 And the messengers preserved his soul from the demons of darkness which were in the way and praised God even until they conducted it into the dwelling-place of the pious.
1 Now his body was lying prostrate and bloodless; therefore, I reached forth My hand, and put right his eyes, and shut his mouth, and said to the virgin Mary: “O My mother, where is the skill which he showed in all the time that he lived in this world? 2 Behold, it has perished, as if it had never existed.” And when his children heard Me speaking with My mother, the pure virgin, they knew that he had already breathed his last, and they shed tears and lamented. 3 But I said to them: “Assuredly, the death of your father is not death, but life everlasting, for he has been freed from the troubles of this life, and has passed to perpetual and everlasting rest.” 4 When they heard these words, they tore their clothes and wept.
1 And indeed, the inhabitants of Nazareth and of Galilee, having heard of their lamentation, flocked to them and wept from the third hour even to the ninth. 2 And at the ninth hour, they all went together to Joseph’s bed. 3 And they lifted his body, after they had anointed it with costly ointments. 4 But I entreated My Father in the prayer of the celestials—that same prayer which with My own hand I made before I was carried in the womb of the virgin Mary, My mother. 5 And as soon as I had finished it and pronounced the amen, a great multitude of messengers came up; 6 and I ordered two of them to stretch out their shining garments, and to wrap in them the body of Joseph, the blessed old man.
1 And I spoke to Joseph and said, “The smell or corruption of death will not have dominion over you, nor will a worm ever come forth from your body. 2 Not a single limb of it will be broken, nor will any hair on your head be changed. 3 Nothing of your body will perish, O My father Joseph, but it will remain entire and uncorrupted even until the banquet of the one thousand years. 4 And whosoever will make an offering on the day of your remembrance, him I will bless and reward in the congregation of the virgins; 5 and whosoever will give food to the wretched, the poor, the widows, and orphans from the work of his hands, on the day on which your memory will be celebrated, and in your name, will not be in need of good things all the days of his life. 6 And whosoever will have given a cup of water, or of wine, to drink to the widow or orphan in your name, I will give him to you, that you may go in with him to the banquet of the one thousand years. 7 And every man who will present an offering on the day of your commemoration I will bless and reward in the assembly of the virgins: for one I will render to him thirty, sixty, and one hundred. 8 And whosoever will write the history of your life, of your labor, and your departure from this world, and this narrative that has issued from My mouth, him I will commit to your keeping as long as he will have to do with this life. 9 And when his soul departs from the body, and when he must leave this world, I will burn the book of his sins, nor will I torment him with any punishment in the day of judgment; 10 but he will cross the sea of flames and will go through it without trouble or pain. 11 And on every poor man who can give none of those things which I have mentioned, this is incumbent: if a son is born to him, he will call his name Joseph. 12 So, there will not take place in that house either poverty or any sudden death forever.
1 Thereafter, the chief men of the city came together to the place where the body of the blessed old man Joseph had been laid, bringing with them burial-clothes; 2 and they wished to wrap it up in them after the manner in which the Jews are accustomed to arrange their dead bodies. 3 And they perceived that he kept his shroud fast, for it adhered to the body in such a way, that when they wished to take it off, it was found to be like iron—impossible to be moved or loosened. 4 Nor could they find any ends in that piece of linen, which struck them with the greatest astonishment. 5 Finally, they carried him out to a place where there was a cave, and opened the gate, so that they might bury his body beside the bodies of his fathers. 6 Then there came into My mind the day on which he walked with Me into Egypt, and that extreme trouble which he endured on My account. 7 Accordingly, I grieved his death for a long time; and lying on his body, I said:
1 “O Death! Who makes all knowledge to vanish away, and raises so many tears and lamentations, surely it is God My Father Himself who has granted you this power. 2 For men die for the transgression of Adam and his wife Eve, and Death does not spare so much as one. 3 Nevertheless, nothing happens to anyone, or is brought on him, without the command of My Father. 4 There have certainly been men who have prolonged their life even to nine hundred years; but [still] they died. 5 Yes, although some of them have lived longer, they have, notwithstanding, succumbed to the same fate; nor has any one of them ever said: I have not tasted death. 6 For the Lord never sends the same punishment more than once, since it has pleased My Father to bring it on men. 7 And at the very moment when it, going forth, beholds the command descending to it from Heaven, it says: I will go forth against that man, and will greatly move him. 8 Then, without delay, it makes an onset on the soul, and obtains the mastery of it, doing with it whatever it will. 9 For, because Adam did not do the will of My Father, but transgressed His command, the wrath of My Father was kindled against him, and He doomed him to death; and thus it was that death came into the world. 10 But if Adam had observed My Father’s precepts, death would never have fallen to his lot. 11 Do you think that I can ask My good Father to send Me a chariot of fire, which may take up the body of My father Joseph and convey it to the place of rest, in order that it may dwell with the spirits? 12 But on account of the transgression of Adam, that trouble and violence of death has descended on all the human race. 13 And it is for this reason that I must die according to the flesh, for My work which I have created, so that they may obtain grace.”
1 Having thus spoken, I embraced the body of My father Joseph and wept over it; 2 and they opened the door of the tomb, and placed his body in it, near the body of his father Jacob. 3 And at the time when he fell asleep, he had fulfilled one hundred and eleven years. 4 Never did a tooth in his mouth hurt him, nor was his eyesight rendered less sharp, nor his body bent, nor his strength impaired; 5 but he worked at his trade as a carpenter to the very last day of his life; and that was the twenty-sixth [day] of the month Abib.
1 And we apostles, when we heard these things from our Savior, rose up joyfully, and prostrated ourselves in honor of Him, and said: “O our Savior, show us Your grace. 2 Now we have indeed heard the word of life: nevertheless, we wonder, O our Savior, at the fate of Enoch and Elijah, inasmuch as they did not have to undergo death. 3 For truly they dwell in the habitation of the righteous even to the present day, nor have their bodies seen corruption. 4 Yet that old man Joseph the carpenter was, nevertheless, Your father after the flesh. 5 And You have ordered us to go into all the world and preach the holy good news; and You have said: Relate to them the death of My father Joseph and celebrate him with annual solemnity a festival and sacred day. 6 And whosoever will take anything away from this narrative, or add anything to it, commits sin. 7 We wonder especially that Joseph, even from that day on which You were born in Beth-Lehem, called You his Son after the flesh. 8 Therefore, then, did You not make him immortal as well as them, and You say that he was righteous and chosen?”
1 And our Savior answered and said: “Indeed, the prophecy of My Father on Adam, for his disobedience, has now been fulfilled. 2 And all things are arranged according to the will and pleasure of My Father. 3 For if a man rejects the command of God and follows the works of the Devil by committing sin, his life is prolonged; for he is preserved in order that he may perhaps convert and reflect that he must be delivered into the hands of death. 4 But if anyone has been zealous for good works, his life is also prolonged, that, as the fame of his old age increases, upright men may imitate him. 5 But when you see a man whose mind is prone to anger, assuredly his days are shortened; for it is these that are taken away in the flower of their age. 6 Every prophecy, therefore, which My Father has pronounced concerning the sons of men, must be fulfilled in every particular. 7 But with reference to Enoch and Elijah, and how they remain alive to this day, keeping the same bodies with which they were born; and as for what concerns My father Joseph, who has not been allowed as well as they to remain in the body: 8 indeed, though a man lives in the world many myriads of years, nevertheless at some time or other he is compelled to exchange life for death. 9 And I say to you, O My brothers, that they also—Enoch and Elijah—must toward the end of time return into the world and die: in the day, namely, of commotion, of terror, of perplexity, and affliction. 10 For the Antichrist will slay four bodies, and will pour out their blood like water, because of the reproach to which they will expose him, and the ignominy with which they, in their lifetime, will brand him when they reveal his impiety.”
1 And we said: “O our Lord, our God and Savior, who are those four whom You have said the Antichrist will cut off from the reproach they bring on him?” 2 The Lord answered: “They are Enoch, Elijah, Schila, and Tabitha.” When we heard this from our Savior, we rejoiced and exulted; 3 and we offered all glory and thanksgiving to the Lord God, and our Savior Jesus Christ. 4 It is He to whom is due glory, honor, dignity, dominion, power, and praise, as well as to the good Father with Him, and to the Holy Spirit that gives life, henceforth and in all time forevermore. Amen.