“I
will command my great holy archangel Michael to blow the trumpet in the Valley
of Jehoshaphat so that the dead will rise incorruptible. No soul will remain
upon earth without resurrection from Adam, the first man, until the last man
that will be born in the world. They will all come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
to that everyone may receive for the deeds done in his body, according to what
he has done, whether good or bad, standing in fear and trembling and looking
for the mercy of my Father.
“But
you, O my beloved John, you will not die until the thrones are prepared on the
day of my holy resurrection.
For the thrones of glory will descend from heaven and you will sit upon them while
I will sit in your midst. All the saints will see the honor that I shall give
you, O my beloved John. I will command the angel Abbaton and he will come to
you in that day without any frightful form; rather he shall come to you with a
gentle face like Michael to take your soul and bring it to me. Your body will
never stay in a tomb nor will the earth ever be upon it. All the saints will be
amazed at you because they will not be able to judge before you judge them. For three and a half hours you will be dead, sleeping on your throne while the
entire creation will be looking at you. I will return again your soul to your
body and you shall rise, wrapped in a robe of glory like someone who has risen
in the bridal chamber. You will judge the entire world as I covenant with you
that, ‘you will sit upon the thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel.’ And
I said with the mouth of Paul, ‘We will judge angels’ before arriving to those
of the world. For on that day, the entire creation will stand in fear and
trembling. I will command them to separate from each other like a shepherd that
separates the sheep from the goat, the righteous to the right, the sinners to
the left, and no one will speak until the Ancient of His Days orders him,. I
will look upon my entire creation and, when I see that is going to destruction,
I will cry up to my Father, ‘My father, what is the profit of my blood if it
goes to destruction?’ Immediately, the voice of my Father will reach me from
the seventh heaven and no one will hear it except me alone because I and my
Father are one. ‘The power belongs to you, my Son, do to whatever pleases you
with your creation.’ And that day I will say rejoicing, ‘You tore off my sackcloth,
you girded me with gladness so that my right hand will bless you because I am
sorrowed.’ (Alin Suciu with Ibrahim Saweros, trans., The Investiture of
Abbaton, the Angel of Death 10:4-8, in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical
Scriptures, ed. Tony Burke and Brent Landau [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans,
2016], 1:543; the text is dated after the Arabic conquest of Egypt in AD 641 [ibid.,
529])
