The Liber Bartholomaei on the Ascension: Edition of Bibliothèque Nationale Copte 132 f. 37

This article publishes the editio princeps (with English translation) of a parchment codex leaf belonging to Ms. A of the Liber Bartholomaei. The text is written in Sahidic Coptic, originates from the White Monastery (ca. Xth A.D.), and is now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The leaf includes the ascension of Jesus sequence from the apocryphon as witnessed by the apostles; and the article provides a synopsis of this section in Ms. A with the published texts of Mss. B-D, together with the parallel from the Gospel of the Savior. The ensuing discussion casts light on the redaction history of the LB, the relative worth of the four known recensions (A-D), and the development of narratives about the ascension of Jesus in the Coptic apocryphal tradition.