Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 185
And I did not perish, for I was not their brother nor my birth like theirs. And they sought for my death and did not find it. (ODE 28 verses 8, 14, 15). And I rose mouth. up and am with them; I will speak by their I did not perish, though they devised it against me. And I made a congregation of living men amongst his dead men; and I spoke with them by living lips. (ODE 42 v. 6, 14, 18) One of the Odes speaks of a land resembling paradise, an eminence. Here apparently Jesus and his followers found shelter and became settled. Biblical scholars think that the Gospel of St. John and these odes are drawn from the same source. ³ From this one can easily see the historical significance of these Odes. (vi) The years 1945-1947 are very important. They proved most productive for scholars interested in reconstructing Jewish and carly Christian history. To this period of three years belong two most important treasures of historical evidence couched in the two ancient languages Hebrew and Coptic. Of these one was found in the Qumran Valley near the Dead Sea and the other in Nag Hammadi, a village in Egypt. The Nag Hammadi documents were contained in a sealed jar. The writings, 52 in number (consisting of 1,191 surviving pages) deal with the beliefs of carly Christians. They are all written in the Coptic language. It is the literature of Gnostics the Hebrew Christians - the more pious part of the Christian Community. When the Roman Church set about destroying this literature, early Christians collected it and buried it underground in a graveyard. This literature contains the Gospel of St. Thomas. This Gospel contains the earliest 3 Ode -11 John and Qumran 177