Syria Update 2

Syria continues sadly today in the news.

Here are some latest headlines-

Air Strikes Happen

Opinion on what could be done

The Logic of Assad

Syria during WWII and later

During the time of excavations by von Hemrick, Syria was initially French controlled and then after the Germans had invaded France, German access to Syria became possible.

By Stephen Kirrage, CC BY 3.0, Link 

In 1941, the Allies lead a successful attack against Syria as part of the Syrian and Lebanon campaign. By 1943 the first president is elected and three years later Syria is free of all foreign control.

It would be in 1947 the rise of the Baath Party occurs. This is an Arab Socialist Party. Contrary to popular belief, Nazism is alive and well in the Middle East. Mein Kampf is still one of the more popularly translated books even today.

It is from this point forward that all the political problems with Syria continue to this day.
One could almost make an argument that lands such a Syria may not be truly ready for true independence as we understand it in America. In the process of leaving them alone to their own devices they seem to be constantly infected with ideals which potentially can cause political blowback.

This is not to suggest that the international community should consider going back to the pre-WWII occupational methods, but then again the last 71 years hasn’t worked out well for the region. How many more years will it take before it does?

Available on Amazon-
Gnostic Text- The Book of Zuriel

Syria Update

I thought I would post something about Syria right now. Thanks to the POTUS, there is a bit of news happening about Syria. To be honest, I am not certain this is good news though. While I understand the desires, isolationism is what the US was like prior to the entry into WWII. Even then it took the Japanese to bomb us to drag us kicking and screaming into the war.

These are a couple of the latest headlines-

Turkey and Russia finding common ground over Syria

Trump Upset about Syria, and wants out.

I am including with this post a Google Map of where the original dig by von Hemrick was done back during WWII. Syria is truly important to early Christian archeology for it is the place where Christians were first known as Christians.

Things are about to change...

Dec 6, 2017

Things are changing with this blog.

I am in the final stretch of getting the book published, and as such I have had to remove many of the original postings as part of the deal.

But newer postings on Otto von Hemrick will appear here, as well as other periodic texts I will be translating.

There is so much more to the Angel Manuscripts. A lot more.

Seth Underwood

Illuminations Discovered

June 2017

I just wanted to do a quick post.

I know it has been a long while since I have done so here.

But as I was in the process of putting the first book together for the deal with Amazon, I came across some illuminations of the texts.

But they are really in bad shape, so I am having one of the artists at the CBMA help me out with them.

My plan is to have at least one of them in e-book.

Also, one of the other things holding up the book publishing was the fact that when I publish the e-book with Amazon a lot of the work done on this blog will have to be taken down. So there will have to be some major restructuring of this blog site.

Which saddens my heart because of the amount of time and effort I put into it, but on the positive note, I will hopefully be able to start posting the second book chapters soon here as well as maybe more from Otto von Hemrick and more on the history and background of the texts.

As an aside, I know right now Syria is a real mess (which is a major understatement), but to be honest historically its sort has been since the early 20th Century. This is not the first time Syria has faced human atrocities. It happened before in the early 20th Century when there was a genocide from my understanding of things.

Syria is also the first place where Christians were called Christians.

It is a shame we are loosing so many historic sites to modern warfare.

Well, that is all for now.

Seth Underwood.

Stuck at Josh's Parent's Place

I just thought I would make a quick post that it might take me awhile to get some new posts up dealing with the translations. 

Between my new job and now this blizzard I might get a little behind on postings.

In the meantime enjoy this little video I made about being stuck a Josh's Parent's place.

Seth

Positives Christentum

I thought I would take a small break from my work with Syriac Orthodox project and make a comment about a letter I just got from Poland.

There is this group in Poland researching the subject of “Positive Christianity” who are evidently following the blog. So to make things a bit easier I thought a quick posting might suffice (this way you don’t have to send anyone to see the material as your letter suggests).

To answer your questions about Otto von Hemrick’s notes and any mention of “Positive Christianity” there appears to be some dialogue between von Hemrick and a few committees with the Reichskirche.

Most of the communications seems to be queries on the translations of the text and how they interrelate to the doctrines of “Positive Christianity”. I do suspect based on the letters between the two that von Hemrick made known part of the translations to these committees (like the translations dealing with the Giants and Bent Cross People). Unfortunately, it seems that von Hemrick was reluctant to say the die Gefallenen should be used a canon text for the movement.

According to one letter he writes-

Während ich sicherlich zustimmen mit der Position des Ausschusses, ich kann nicht mit allen guten bewussten sagen die Matrize Gefallenen würden in Abstimmung mit den Mietern des Reichskirche sein. Es ist mir klar, dass ein Großteil dieser Text wird in den alten jüdischen Traditionen und Auffassungen von gefallenen Engeln verwurzelt und ist daher nicht mit den Hauptmietern kompatibel. Selbst die Abschnitte, die sich mit dem Christus offenbar werden, die eine jüdische Verbindung. Es wäre Heterodoxie, auch darauf hin, dass dieser Text wäre eine Überlegung wert sein.

Translation reads-

“While I most certainly agree with the position of the Committee, I cannot with all good conscious say the die Gefallenen would be in agreement with the tenants of the Reichskirche. It is clear to me that much of this text is rooted in the ancient Jewish traditions and understandings of fallen angels and is therefore not compatible with the core tenants. Even the sections dealing with the Christ clearly are showing a Jewish connection. It would heterodoxy to even suggest that this text would be worthy of consideration.”

A New Job

For all those who are following the blog, I just thought I would make a quick post that I was just hired as a consultant with the U.S. Catholic Committee on Biblical Transliterations. 

I will be working on some transliterations dealing with an upcoming dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch to be hosted by the St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in NW.

As such don’t be surprised if the postings become a bit lacking for a time. I do plan to have more, but this work (which I need right now to help with the bills) is going to take a certain priority.

If you have not subscribed by email to the blog, I would do so because this way you get the postings as they occur vs. having to go the blog manually each time to see if something new has been posted.

(For those Catholic Scholar geeks out there- the talks will be on the nature of the Consubstantiation of Christ in relationship to the establishment of the Apostleship and its transmission.)

(Also a big thanks to Bob Quinlan telling me about the Committee's need. I couldn't have gotten this work without your help. Thanks again.)

Location of my new job -- the offices are on the 3rd Floor of the building in the middle of the photo.

Zeit Seele

I have come across more letters from von Hemrick to Himmler. These letters are much more disturbing than the others I have seen because they describe what appears to be some experiments that were conducted as a result of the work von Hemrick did on the “die Gegallenen”. It is one thing to see such things in the movies, or read about them in a history class, but to come across actual letters describing them just makes one sick to the stomach. I am posting some of the text not out of gross fascination, but because of the historical significance and hope that we never repeat this stuff again as humans for the “sake of science”.

"Ich bin glücklich, mit der Zusammenarbeit der Herr Einstein und seine Arbeit auf der Gleichung E = MC2 berichten die Wissenschaftler, die Sie vergeben haben es geschafft, die Zehman oder was Herr Einstein fordert Space-Time zu isolieren. Nun, da dieser Teil erfolgreich isoliert sollten wir in der Lage, um es in den Anzügen so ausgelegt anzuwenden. Sie können an den Führer, die alle vor sich geht wie geplant und wir kurz wissen sollten, ob dies zulassen, dass unsere Soldaten nach Amerika ohne den Einsatz von Flugzeugen oder Schiffen eindringen zu berichten."

"Ich weiß, dass Sie bereits über die Ergebnisse des ersten Tests der Zehman Anzüge von einem meiner Kollegen gehört haben, und bitte Sie, meine aufrichtige Entschuldigung für dieses Problem früher, um Sie nicht zu melden. Ich werde sofort senden die üblichen Brief an die Familien, für die seine Dienste an der Reichs diese Männer zur Verfügung gestellt."

"Ich danke Ihnen für das Senden der gefangenen amerikanischen Soldaten, um für den zweiten Test zu verwenden. Ich bin besorgt, dass, obwohl, ob das funktioniert so konzipiert, dass sie entkommen können, aber ich nehme an, Sie haben bereits daran gedacht. Ich bin darüber informiert, dass ein Halteseil-System kann mit den Anzügen so ausgelegt, dass dieses Risiko zu minimieren."

"Herr Himmler, ist es mit einem traurigen Herzen habe ich zu berichten, der zweite Test nicht gegangen, wie geplant. Haltegurt-System hat funktioniert, aber wie beim ersten Test die Probanden zum Tod geführt. Einer der Wissenschaftler glauben, das Problem mit einigen der ursprünglichen Mathematik, die uns von Herr Einstein bereitgestellt liegen. Wir sind nun gezwungen, zurück zu den ursprünglichen Gleichungen, um zu sehen, wo der Fehler liegt, zu beheben, und dann gilt es auf die Anzüge."

"Wir haben es geschafft, den Fehler in einer der Gleichungen zu finden, aber wir haben, dass, wenn die ursprünglichen Geräte angelegt, um die Zehman , dass wir etwas Ungewöhnliches in der Zehman sehen studieren entdeckt. Es scheint eine Art von Kreaturen in der Zehman sein. Ich glaube, Herr Himmler, dass wir Kontakt mit der Helheim gemacht wie unsere Vorfahren es nennen würde."

"Wie Sie angefordert haben, bin ich bereit, den Führer in der Weise, die Sie geschrieben haben zu dienen. Wir haben es geschafft, die Gleichung Anpassungen an einer Zehman Klage gelten, und ich werde der Anzug selbst zu testen. Zwar ist es mit großer Angst, dass ich dies zu tun für die Ehre des Reiches, bin ich zuversichtlich, dass meine Arbeit nicht umsonst gewesen sein"

Translated reads,

“I am happy to report with the co-operation of Herr Einstein and his work on the equation, E=MC², the scientists that you have assigned have managed to isolate the Zehman or what Herr Einstein calls Space-Time. Now that this part has been successfully isolated we should be able to apply it to the suits being designed. You may report to the Fuhrer that all is going as planned and we should know shortly if this will allow our soldiers to invade America without the use of planes or ships.”

“I realize that you have already heard of the results of the first test of the Zehman suits from one of my colleagues, and please accept my sincerest apologies for not reporting this problem sooner to you. I will immediately send out the customary letter to the families for the dedicated service to the Reich these men have provided.”

“I thank you for sending the captured American soldiers to use for the second test. I am concerned though that if this works as designed that they may escape, but I assume you have already thought of this. I have been informed that a tether system can be designed with the suits so as to minimize this risk.”

“Herr Himmler, it is with a sad heart I have to report the second test has not gone as planned. The tether system did work, but like the first test the subjects have resulted in death. One of the scientists believe the problem may lie with some of the original math provided to us by Herr Einstein. We are now forced to go back to the original equations to see where the mistake lies, fix it, and then apply it to the suits.”

“We have managed to find the mistake in one of the equations but we have discovered that when applied to the original devices to study the Zehman that we are seeing something unusual in the Zehman. There appears to be some sort of creatures in the Zehman. I believe, Herr Himmler, that we have made contact with the Helheim as our ancestors would call it.”

“As you have requested, I am prepared to serve the Fuhrer in the manner you have written. We have managed to apply the equation adjustments to a Zehman suit and I will test the suit myself. While it is with great trepidation that I do this for the glory of the Reich, I am confident that my work will not be in vain.”

Above is the pretty much the last communication from von Hemrick to Himmler, and I suspect that the last experiment which he performed on himself went as the others. Obviously Himmler sort of knew this would be the resultant, and saved himself the time of preparing a firing squad for von Hemrick.

Gnostischen , DOCETAE und Apokryphen

I am doing this post remotely as I am still visiting friends and family up in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for the Christmas holidays. But I thought I would make this post on a minor debate between me and some colleagues I know at CUA in the hopes of ending the email debate (Really emailing during the holidays? Don’t you guys celebrate Christmas or have something better to do?).

The issue surrounds the nature of the die Gefallenen text itself. A few have conjectured that what translations they have seen currently suggest that this might not be Gnostic in origin (I disagree). They point out that it seems to lack some of the hallmark Gnostic traits like a supreme monadic divinity, a demiurge creator god, the use of aeons (an aspect of God), or some sort of salvation doctrine that involves freeing oneself from the corrupt material world to the greater spiritual world. They contend that the text so far appears to them as more apocryphal in nature similar to texts like the Book of Jubilees or Apocalypse of Peter (less the visions of heaven and hell).

While it is true that the traditional Gnostic nature appears to be lacking so far. Especially when one considers the fact that around the 4^th Century a school of Gnosticism known as Valentinianism was just dying off when the text was supposedly written. I would contend that the die Gefallenen appears to me to be more like a docetae tradition or doketai in Greek. This tradition technically pre-dates most traditional Gnostic traditions and is sort of a proto-Gnosticism focusing on the spiritual concepts of appearances in our reality (as in Jesus only appears to be human or even material). If true this is suggestive that the text might be older than 4^th Century, but I cannot say.

Much of the text so far appears to be concentrating on the spiritual world of things or is at least written from the spiritual perspective of interacting with our material world. I think the writer (Zuriel) is showing us how the evilness of the material world was introduced through what are lesser spiritual entities (i.e. fallen angels).

It is possible that the monastic community the die Gefallenen was found with may have kept some elements of an earlier Valentinianism mythos and blended it more with traditional Judeo-Christian accepted texts to make the whole thing more palatable. But I don’t think it is apocryphal because the text is not a known text. Almost all the apocryphal texts were circulating around in the early Christian era so much that they are mentioned by early Christian writers in their commentaries. The die Gefallenen is not mentioned at all, and I don’t think one will find it either.

The fact is the book is written in a code like language that took some Nazi code breakers and an enigma machine to crack sort of suggests that a key Gnostic tradition of secret knowledge. This may have been a text that was not available to novice monks until they understood some other fundamental Christian texts. Just look at the Dead Sea Scroll community where they had texts dealing with the warriors of light and darkness fighting it out that were not mentioned by earlier Christian writers or even the Jewish writers of the time. These texts clearly did not circulate and were part of some sort of internal knowledge privy only to the community itself.

One point I think we all can agree on is that even if we “scholars” cannot come to terms with the nature of the text (either Apocryphal or Gnostic) we all can clearly agree that the die Gefallenen is clearly not accepted canon when it comes to Christianity.

Who's Who Transliterations

At the request of Alyssa, I am posting a sort of who’s who with the translations so far (or as best as I can figure). While the translation matrix developed by von Hemrick helps a lot with deciphering the text some of the words appear to be translating into a transliteration of Hebrew. Okay I find it interesting that a Nazi would be using Hebrew, but then again anyone who has ever seen Indiana Jones knows the Nazis didn’t care where the power came from so long as they could use it to win the war (or at least that is Hollywood’s opinion of them).

Otto von Hemrick – Nazi Archaeologist who finds the text in Syria. Was a member of the Ahnenerbe.

.

Zuriel – This appears to be the author of the text. While I think it is suggested that Zuriel is a fallen angel, I suspect the original author of the text is more than likely a collection of early Christian monastic scholars since the original text was discovered in the ruins of a monastery. This was not uncommon during early Christianity, and you see a lot of it occurring in Egypt with the Gnostic communities.

Hosek – This word means “darkness”. I am suspecting this person is the devil or the Satan. It is hard to tell because by the 4^th Century the Satan was much more clearly defined as in opposition to God, and this character so far doesn’t seem so but then again I am not finished with the text.

Yago – This appears to be the friend of Zuriel. The word actually means “supplanter”. He appears to be some lower class of worker angel.

Elisheva – This word means “God is my wrath”. I am not certain who this angel is exactly, but clearly like Hosek he is a leader angel of some kind.

Adonai – This word means “Lord”. Okay this one is sort of obvious who the writer is talking about. No decoder ring needed here.

Achim – This word means “constructed by God”. It appears that the writer is suggesting that at first the angels were collectively all the same, but later became something different.

Uri – The writer makes a clear distinction of the angels by using this word. The word means “God is my light” and hence the reference to the glowing armor. Clearly this is in reference to the distinction of the angels who follow God and those who are not following God, but the text seems to be following some other tradition in how the fallen angels are seen. It is a tradition I have not seen before, but it also could be the bias of the translation matrix.

Akim – This word means “originating from God”. Clearly the writer of the text is making some sort of distinction between angels and some higher order of beings who are closer to God.

Tsale – This word means “shades” and is clearly an older reference to the original concept of the inhabitants of the realm of the dead in early Jewish traditions.

Tehom – This word means “abyss” and is a clear reference to the same word mentioned in Genesis 1:2.

Toho Erets – Okay this word is somewhat misspelled. Proper transliteration would be Tohu Erets, which basically means the “Chaos of Earth” and is a clear reference to again to Genesis 1:2.

Onyia – This means “ship”.

Kli – This means “vessel”.

das Ahnenerbe

Okay while going through some of von Hemrick’s papers, I came across copy of letter from him to Heinrich Himmler. I just had to get this one out because it so historical. It appears that von Hemrick was part of the Ahnenerbe because the letter head has its logo on it (see below what it looks like—sorry I don’t have a scanner). I don’t know if this was a draft or a copy of an actual letter he sent. I am posting some of the more interesting bits…

Source - "Ahnenerbe" by Ahnenerbe.jpg: Co-flensderivative work: Malyszkz (talk) - Ahnenerbe.jpg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ahnenerbe.svg#/media/File:Ahnenerbe.svg

He writes--

"Danke für die Benutzung der Enigma-Maschine und Mitarbeiter. Beide waren hilfreich bei der Entwicklung der Übersetzungen Matrix. Ich fühle mich ehrlich gesagt, dass wir auf der Schwelle zu einer ernsthaften Durchbruch mit dem Text. Ich weiß, dass Sie am meisten gespannt auf meine Fortschritte wissen seit Sponsoring mein Projekt gewesen sein, und ich entschuldige mich für den langsamen Fortschritt der Dinge. Ich bin ziemlich sicher, dass, sobald die Texte werden decodiert, daß der Führer wird mit dem Ergebnis zufrieden sein. Ich bin davon überzeugt, dass der Text ermöglicht es uns, zu verstehen, wie 'Zehman' in einer Weise zu steuern, dass eine neue Waffe entwickelt werden können, oder es uns ermöglichen, Soldaten auszubilden, um außerhalb von ihr zu Fuß, so dass nichts kann sie aufhalten. "

Translated reads--

“Thanks for the use of the Enigma Machine and staff. Both have been helpful in developing the translation matrix. I honestly feel that we are on the verge of a serious break through with the text. I know you have been most eager to know of my progress since sponsoring my project, and I apologize on the slow progress of things. I am fairly certain that once the texts are decoded that the Fuhrer will be pleased with the outcome. I am convinced that the text will allows us to understand how to control ‘Zehman’ in such a way that a new weapon can be developed or allow us to train soldiers to walk outside of it so nothing can stop them.”

Engels Verständnis

von Hemrick’s notes contain a section where he writes about his observations of how angel’s work and perceive things. He starts off noting that much of what has been written about angelic creatures has been more from the human perspective of religious ideologies versus the angel’s perspective (okay he is suggesting that he knows how angel's think). He suggests that because of this misunderstanding we have fallen into a trap of "false knowledge". That these creatures exist in such a way that it is hard for us to perceive until we die and are released from our fleshy tombs. Okay this bit may be more correct based on some spiritual writings I have seen. 

In a note on the margin von Hemrick writes about how the realm of angels is not bound by what he calls- “Zeman” or “Time”. While I don’t quite understand this he suggests that without the presence of Zeman there is only decision once and only once or as he says- “not in the now, or past, or future—but in the is”. Okay a lot of what he wrote is bit too radical and no doubt false in nature (like the part of a non-diabolical devil-- that is an oxymoron)… but there was a lot of weird ideas back during that time in Germany from what I gather. My friends in apologetics would no doubt have a field day with these notes.

He writes,

“Es ist zwar richtig, dass Willen eines Engels ist so bestimmt, daß es unwiderruflich ist, was falsch verstanden ist, dass jeder Engel - gut oder schlecht - weiß mit absoluter Sicherheit das Ergebnis der Möglichkeiten ihres Willens. Kurz gesagt, wissen, dass sie als eine Tatsache, das Ergebnis der Dinge im Gegensatz zu uns Menschen, die mehr relativen Dinge zu sehen. Aus der Sicht eines Engels Gottes Wille scheint das totale Chaos und unvorhersehbar sein, weil es ihnen nicht bekannt. So haben sie eine Auswahl--, ihren Willen zu folgen oder nicht. Es ist nur durch reine Reue diejenigen, die folgen, Gottes Willen zu tun zu tun. Diese Engel, die nicht in der Lage, diesen Zustand des reinen Reue fallen in die einzige Sünde zu erreichen, sind ein Engel begehen kann -, dass der nach ihrem eigenen Willen - entweder zu vermeiden, was sie als das Ergebnis zu sehen oder in eine reine Gefühlszustand von Wut oder Sinn fallen Rache oder sogar Verzweiflung. Während historisch Theologen haben den Teufel als Geist der reinen stolz genannt wird, ist die Wahrheit, das ist ihm aus der menschlichen Perspektive von Gottes Plan für uns zu sehen. Ich denke ehrlich, der Teufel könnte weniger Pflege über uns Menschen und seiner selbst. Er weiß nicht einmal für jene Engel, die ihm gefolgt sind, kümmern. Die Macht der Teufel schwingt über die Menschheit ist es nur, weil es ihm und nicht mehr gegeben. Es scheint nur für uns, dass er versucht, den Plan Gottes für diese Welt, und dass er diabolisch in der Natur ist zu stoppen, aber das ist, weil er nach seinem eigenen Willen, sich aus seiner endgültigen Schicksal zu bekommen. Trotzdem sollten wir nicht unterschätzen die Macht dieser gefallenen Engel oder das andere gefallen kann gegen die Menschlichkeit führen. In Wahrheit haben wir wirklich nur von ihrer wahren Natur nach unserem Tod wissen, wenn unsere Seele befreit.“

Translated reads-

“While it is true that an angel’s will is so determined that it is irrevocable, what is misunderstood is that every angel – bad or good – knows with absolute certainty the outcome of the possibilities of their will. In short, they know as a fact the outcome of things unlike us humans who see things more relative. From an angel’s perspective God’s will appears to be total chaos and unpredictable because it is not known to them. Thus they have a choice-- to follow their will or not. It is only through pure contrition do those who follow God’s will do so. Those angels which are unable to achieve this state of pure contrition fall into the only sin an angel can commit – that of following their own will -- to either avoid what they see as the outcome or fall into some pure emotional state of anger or sense of revenge or even despair. While historically theologians have called the Devil as a spirit of pure pride, the truth is this is seeing him from the human perspective of God’s plan for us. I honestly think the Devil could care less about us humans and more of his own self. He doesn’t care even for those angel’s that have followed him. The power the Devil wields over humanity is there only because it was given to him and no more. It only appears to us that he is trying to stop God’s plan for this world and that he is diabolical in nature, but this is because he is following his own will to get out of his final fate. Even so we should not underestimate the power this fallen angel or the other fallen can wield against humanity. In truth, we really will only know of their true nature upon our death when our soul is freed.”

A Busy Time

Okay I know some of my friends have been following my blog as of late, but I thought I would make a quick post that the next few weeks are going to be really busy for me.

First thing is one of the professors has asked me to grade some undergrad papers, and secondly I am moving out of my rat hole of a SE basement apartment thanks to Alyssa (and no we are not dating --- or moving in together Josh because I know you will ask).

It is this new place they just built near the campus. I thought I couldn’t afford it but I found out that the rent is about the same what I am paying for the rat hole (and yes I was being seriously ripped off by my previous landlord).  Even better it means no more Metro for me.

But I do have a couple of translations I can post soon to keep you all occupied. Watch for them.

Seth

This the floor diagram of the place.

This the view of my window from outside.

die Gefallenen

My name is Seth Underwood. I came across die Gefallenen while working on my doctoral studies at Catholic University of America. I thought writing a blog about this text might be a good idea for those interested in such matters.

die Gefallenen was discovered originally in the ruins of 4th Century Christian monastic community in Syria during the summer of 1923 by Otto von Hemrick. von Hemrick brought the texts and scrolls he found back to Germany for future study. As part of the Nazi study of the occult, he began working on translating die Gefallenen. With the help of some Nazi code breakers, he was able in two years to come up with a translation matrix for the text. According to his notes, the main text seems to be some sort of root language common to all languages. He called it the mother language or more specifically “Muttersprache”. Although the cover of the text has clearly written on it a 4th century Coptic script which translates into die Gefallenen or the Fallen (or also the dead soldiers or the fallen soldiers) in English. 

I discovered that die Gefallenen ended up at Catholic University of America as part of a donation from an anonymous U.S. GI. Where the book pretty much sat along with notes from Otto von Hemrick until I came across it while working on my doctoral thesis.

die Gefallenen is not an impressive book except its age. It uses the standard Coptic style of stitching of several pages into a bound text between two pieces of wood as covers. It is clear that at some point during the 4th century, the original texts were re-bound into single book because the interior pages seem to be cut up into pieces from what appears to have been an original scroll or series of scrolls. Unfortunately though, between the ravages of time, and what I suspect was von Hemrick’s own research, the text itself has lost its original bindings and is now held together with some twine around the whole thing. In fact reading von Hemrick’s notes a bit I honestly think the original order (if there was one) has been sort of lost between the 4th Century cut and paste and von Hemrick’s own cut and paste job of putting the book back together. What I can tell is that the text appears to be some sort of diary or recount of events in a person’s life, or possibly a moral tale of some kind. I firmly hold though the text appears to be of the Gnostic or Docetae tradition. At best it would be apocryphal, but does not appear in any of the official apocryphal lists.

Well anyway, as I translate either von Hemrick’s notes on a passage or using his own translation matrix I will make a posting of it. I have had to take some liberties with the wording, as not everything translates that well.