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The History of Joseph the Carpenter

Unknown

Section 14

About this work

Author: Unknown

14. It came to pass thereafter, when he returned

‹ Section 13 Section 15 ›

to

his

own

house

in

the

city

of

Nazareth

,

that

he

was

seized

by

disease

,

and

had

to

keep

his

bed

.

And

it

was

at

this

time

that

he

died

,

according

to

the

destiny

of

all

mankind

.

For

this

disease

was

very

heavy

upon

him

,

and

he

had

never

been

ill

,

as

he

now

was

,

from

the

day

of

his

birth

.

And

thus

assuredly

it

pleased

Christ

to

order

the

destiny

of

righteous

Joseph

.

He

lived

forty

years

unmarried

;

thereafter

his

wife

remained

under

his

care

forty

-

nine

years

,

and

then

died

.

And

a

year

after

her

death

,

my

mother

,

the

blessed

Mary

,

was

entrusted

to

him

by

the

priests

,

that

he

should

keep

her

until

the

time

of

her

marriage

.

She

spent

two

years

in

his

house

;

and

in

the

third

year

of

her

stay

with

Joseph

,

in

the

fifteenth

year

of

her

age

,

she

brought

me

forth

on

earth

by

a

mystery

which

no

creature

can

penetrate

or

understand

,

except

myself

,

and

my

Father

and

the

Holy

Spirit

,

constituting

one

essence

with

myself

.

Notes

19
Note the change from the first person.
20
Here the Coptic has: This is the end of the life of my beloved father Joseph. When forty years old he married a wife, with whom he lived nine (? forty-nine) years. After her death he remained a widower one (or two) year: and my mother lived two years in his house before she was married to him, since he had been ordered by the priests to take charge of her until the time of her marriage. And my mother Mary brought me forth in the third year that she was in Joseph’s house, in the fifteenth year of her age. My mother bore me in a cave (this seems a mistranslation for mystery), which it is unlawful either to name or seek, and there is not in the whole creation a man who knows it, except me and my Father and the Holy Spirit. It is to be noted that the last clause is omitted in the Coptic. The phrase one essence was first used in regard to the doctrine of the Trinity by Augustine.