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Hey, it's Mike Chen.
The figure of Jesus Christ is undeniably a spiritual
and cultural character of significant importance in human history.
And for many of us, it remains a mystery
how much of what we are taught about the “Son of God”
is true to the original figure
that lived over 2,000 years ago.
Over the centuries that passed and even in the modern times,
there are those who believe that the Jesus Christ we know now
is not who he was in reality,
but is instead only a version of him
that was institutionally adapted by the church to fit its ideals.
Stories about him, his abilities and qualities
which were up to the premise established by the Church were kept,
while those that didn’t were allegedly deemed fraudulent or inaccurate
and were heavily discredited.
Though the Bible had become canonized more than a millennium ago,
many apocryphal stories have managed to survive
and endure even up to now.
More recently, a newly deciphered Egyptian text,
which dates back almost 1,200 years ago,
details a part of the crucifixion story of Jesus Christ
with apocryphal plot twists,
some of which have never been heard of before.
The story goes back to March 2013,
when reports flooded the headlines about a 1,200-year-old Egyptian text
that tells the story of the life and crucifixion of Jesus,
while also supposedly providing conflicting data
that could potentially change the story about Jesus Christ.
The text is written in the Coptic language,
and is one of fifty-five Coptic manuscripts
that were found in 1910 by villagers digging for fertilizer
at the site of the destroyed Monastery of Archangel Michael
of the Desert near Al Hamuli in Egypt.
Apparently, the monk in the tenth century
had buried the monastery’s manuscripts in a stone vat for safekeeping.
The monastery ceased its operations around the early 10th century,
and the text wasn’t rediscovered until around the spring of 1910.
Then, American financier J.P. Morgan purchased it
along with other texts in December 1911.
His collections, and the particular text about the crucifixion story of Jesus,
are currently housed and protected in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
A second copy of the ancient text
is also available at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania,
but is mostly illegible.
The ancient Egyptian text was written in the name of St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
a distinguished theologian who lived during the fourth century.
A translation of the text was carried out
by Roelof van den Broek of Ultrecht University in the Netherlands,
and he published the contents of the text in the book
“Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem On the Life and the Passion of Christ”
Not only does it describe Pilate as a faithful disciple
and not a traitor,
it also recounts a dinner with Jesus prior to his crucifixion
in which Pilate offered to sacrifice his own son
to spare the life of the Messiah.
The text also controversially described Jesus
as possessing the magical ability to change shape,
which, if true, would explains why Judas had used a kiss to positively identify Jesus.
The ancient text also puts the day of Jesus’s arrest on Tuesday evening
instead of Thursday evening,
which contradicts the current Easter timeline observed by Christians.
While apocryphal stories about Pilate are known to exist from ancient times,
van den Broek claimed that he has never seen one before
in which Pilate had offered to sacrifice his own son in the place of Jesus.
According to this ancient Egyptian text,
Pilate prepared a table and ate with Jesus prior to his crucifixion.
Pilate later told Jesus that
when the morning comes, he would give the people his only son
so that they could kill him in Jesus’s place.
However, Jesus comforted him
and revealed that he had the ability to escape his fate if he chose to.
Then, Pilate looked at Jesus and he saw the Messiah turn “incorporeal”-
which means that he really had no physical body anymore,
and “did not see him for a long time.”
The text also mentioned that Pilate and his wife
both had visions that night
that show an eagle -
which is a representation of Jesus – being killed.
According to van den Broek,
this sympathetic portrayal of Pilate in this ancient text is unsurprising
since Pilate is regarded as a saint in the Coptic
as well as Ethiopian churches.
Now let's talk about Judas' kiss.
In the Bible, the apostle Judas betrayed Jesus in exchange for money
and used a kiss to identify him
leading to the Messiah’s arrest.
While the text did not refute the apostle’s betrayal,
this apocryphal tale did explain
why Judas had to use a kiss to identify Jesus.
And the reason was according to this text
--- Jesus was allegedly a shape-shifter.
Again, according to text,
arresting Jesus was not that simple
since he did “not have a single shape”
and “his appearance changes.”
“Sometimes he is ruddy, sometimes he is white,
sometimes he is red, sometimes he is wheat colored,
sometimes he is a youth,” and “sometimes an old man.”
This conundrum led Judas to suggest using a kiss
as means to positively identify him.
Had he simply given the arresters a description of Jesus’s appearance,
the Messiah could have easily changed shape.
But by kissing Jesus,
Judas revealed to the people exactly who he is.
The controversial meaning behind the kiss of Judas goes way back.
This “shape-shifting” explanation of Judas’s kiss
is first found in the work of ancient writer Origen,
a theologian who lived between 185-254 A.D.
In his work, “Contra Celsum,”
Origen stated that “to those who saw [Jesus],
he did not appear alike to all.”
The ancient Egyptian text also mentions that
the date of Jesus’s Last Supper with the apostles
and subsequent arrest took place on a Tuesday.
In fact, in this old text,
Jesus’s actual Last Supper was not with his disciples at all but with Pilate.
This information is a significant deviation
from what are written in the Bible.
To present-day Christians,
the Last Supper and the arrest of Jesus happened on a Thursday evening,
and they observe the event every year as “Maundy Thursday”
as part of the services of Holy Week.
However, the way the Egyptian text relates the story of Jesus’s arrest
to have taken place on a Tuesday evening
makes it seem as what was written in the Bible
about him getting arrested on a Thursday evening did not actually exist.
So, with all these controversial
and supposedly “earth-shattering” information about Jesus Christ,
one very important question comes to mind:
Is this 1,200-year-old ancient Egyptian text based on real life?
To van den Broek, the answer is “not exactly.”
For him, the discovery of the text doesn’t mean
that the events detailed in it have actually happened,
but that some people who lived at the time of the tale’s existence
appear to have believed in them.
In fact, according to van den Broek,
the ancient text while written in the name of St. Cyril of Jerusalem
may not have actually been written by him at all.
In the beginning of the text,
the writer claims that a book has been found in Jerusalem
which contained the writings of the apostles on the life and crucifixion of Jesus.
However, it is very unlikely that such a book was found in real life.
Instead, van den Broek theorized
that a claim like this would have been used by the writer
in an attempt "to enhance the credibility of the peculiar views
and uncanonical facts” detailed in the text
by means of “ascribing them to an apostolic source.”
Nevertheless,
though the accuracy of the details written on this ancient Egyptian text is debatable
the text itself is considered authentic.
This meant that 1,200 years ago in Egypt
– at a time in which the Bible had already become canonized
– many still read and believed in various apocryphal stories
to the point that books about them remained popular among Egyptian Christians,
especially among monks.
And I'm just thinking here and, please, no offend to anybody.
But if Jesus have the ability to walk on water,
cure the sick,
turn water into wine
then maybe, I don't know, shape shifting is not that big a deal.
Anyway, I just thought the story was incredibly interesting
and want to bring it out to you guys on this channel.
Let me know what you guys think,
do you believe what's written in the text is true?
Do you believe that Jesus had the ability to shape-shift?
Alright guys, thank you all so much for watching this video.
I'll see you later.