Acta Thomae

And Charisius said unto the apostle: Up, thou wicked one and destroyer and enemy of mine house: for me thy sorcery harmeth not, for I will visit thy sorcery on thine head. And when he so said, the apostle looked upon him and said unto him: Thy threatenings shall return upon thee, for me thou wilt not harm any whit: for greater than thee and thy king and all your army is the Lord Jesus Christ in whom I have my trust. And Charisius took a kerchief [*]((turban, Syr.)) of one of his slaves and cast it about the neck of the apostle, saying: Hale him and bring him away; let me see if his God is able to deliver him out of my hands. And they haled him and led him away to Misdaeus the king. And the apostle stood before the king, and the king said to him: Tell me who thou art and by what power thou doest these things. But the apostle kept silence. And the king commanded his officers (subjects) that he should be scourged

But the apostle went unto the prison rejoicing and exulting, and said: I praise thee, Jesu, for that thou hast not only made me worthy of faith in thee, but also to endure much for thy sake. I give thee thanks therefore, Lord, that thou hast taken thought for me and given me patience: I thank thee, Lord, that for thy sake I am called a sorcerer and a wizard. Receive thou me therefore with the blessing [*]((Syr. let me receive of the blessing)) of the poor, and of the rest of the weary, and of the blessings of them whom men hate and persecute and revile, and speak evil words of them. For lo, for thy sake I am hated: lo, for thy sake I am cut off from the many, and for thy sake they eall me such an one as I am not.

And as he prayed, all the prisoners looked on him, and besought him to pray for them: and when he had prayed and was set down, he began to utter a psalm in this wise:

[*]([Here follows the Hymn of the Soul: a most remarkable composition, originally Syriac, and certainly older than the Acts, with which it has no real connexion. We have it in Greek in one manuscript, the Vallicellian, and in a paraphrase by Nicetas of Thessalonica, found and edited by Bonnet.])

1 When I was an infant child

in the palace of my Father,

2 and resting in the wealth and luxury of my nurturers,

3 out of the East, our native country, my parents provisioned me and sent me.

4 And of the wealth of those their treasures they put together a load,

5 both great and light, that I might carry it alone.

6 Gold is the load, of them that are above (or of the land of the Ellaeans or Gilaeans),

and silver of the great treasures (or of Gazzak the great),

7 and stones, chalcedonies from the Indians,

and pearls from ‹the land of› the Kosani (Kushan).

8 And they armed me with adamant ‹which breaketh iron›,

9 and they took off from me [*]((Gr. put on me)) the garment set with gems, spangled with gold, which they had made for me because they loved me,

10 and the robe that was yellow in hue, made for my stature.

11 And they made a covenant with me, and inscribed it on mine understanding, that I should ‹not› forget it, and said:

12 If thou go down into Egypt, and bring back thence the one pearl

13 which is there ‹in the midst of the sea› girt about by the devouring serpent,

14 thou shalt put on ‹again› the garment set with gems, and that robe whereupon it resteth (or which is thereon),

15 and become with thy brother that is next unto us [*]((Gr. of the well-remembered)) an heir [*]((Gr. herald)) in our kingdom.