Sophia Scriptura

Protevangelium of James

Protevangelium Iacobi · Γέννησις Μαρίας

Read the whole work on one page

Contents

  1. 0The title of the work as printed by Tischendorf.
  2. 1Joachim, a rich man rebuked for having no children, withdraws to the wilderness to fast and pray.
  3. 2Anna mourns her childlessness, refuses her maid's headband, and laments in the garden that all creation is fruitful but she is not.
  4. 4An angel promises Anna a child, Joachim returns with offerings, and Anna gives birth to a daughter.
  5. 6Mary takes her first steps, is kept in a household sanctuary, and is blessed by the priests at her first birthday feast.
  6. 7At three years old Mary is brought to the temple with lamps and received by the priest.
  7. 8At twelve Mary is entrusted by lot to the widower Joseph, and later is chosen to spin purple and scarlet for the temple veil.
  8. 11The annunciation to Mary at the well and at her spinning, and her visit to Elizabeth.
  9. 13Joseph finds Mary pregnant, is reassured by an angel, both are accused before the priest and cleared, and on the journey to Bethlehem Mary goes into labour, while Joseph sees all creation stand still.
  10. 19Joseph brings a midwife to the cave, where a cloud and a great light attend the birth; Salome refuses to believe that a virgin has given birth.
  11. 20Salome's hand is withered for her unbelief and healed when she holds the child; the magi come by Herod to the cave and worship.
  12. 22Herod orders the infants killed; Mary hides Jesus in a manger, and a mountain opens to shelter Elizabeth and John.
  13. 23Zacharias refuses to give up his son to Herod's officers and is murdered in the temple.
  14. 24The priests find Zacharias's blood turned to stone and appoint Simeon in his place; James, the narrator, closes the history.

About this work

Author
Anonymous
Attribution
pseudonymous · Anonymous; presented as the work of James, the Lord's brother. It is not part of the 66-book canon. Origen (Comm. Matt. 10.17) already knows its tradition of the brothers of Jesus; the text is generally placed in the later second century (ca. 150–200; confidence: approximate). Its Greek form is attested in many medieval manuscripts, and its title (Protevangelium) is a later one.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Anonymous or pseudonymous work read and used in the church of its time.
Date
ca. 150–200 (approximate) · Generally placed in the later second century; Origen shows knowledge of its traditions in the early third.
Written at
unknown, unknown (disputed)
Language
Greek
Genre
other
Reference system
chapter (1–25), following Tischendorf's numbering; 0 = title. Verse numbers are not kept. Chapter numerals the OCR could not read are not separate refs: their text lies inside the preceding ref.
SBL abbreviation
Prot. Jas.Not yet checked
Text from
Constantin von Tischendorf, ed., Evangelia apocrypha, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: Hermann Mendelssohn, 1876), 1–50 (Printed edition in the public domain; Tesseract OCR of a public-domain scan (Internet Archive))