Nikodemusevangeliet

Nikodemusevangeliet, eller Pilatusakterna som det ibland kallas, är ett apokryfiskt evangelium, som har farisén Nikodemos som föregiven författare. Han förekommer annars endast i Johannesevangeliet.

Nikodemusevangeliet är författat på grekiska på 400-talet, och är en sammanfogning av de äldre Pilatusakterna, vars äldsta delar går tillbaka till 100-talet v.t., andra avdelningen där Jesus stiger ned i dödsriket. Delarna sammanfogades på 500-talet

Skriften består dels en passionsskildring som är relativt lik de kanoniska evangelierna, även om det här skildras att Pontius Pilatus och Nikodemus försvarar Jesus så mycket de vågar mot Stora Rådet.

Nästa huvuddel är unik för Nikodemusevangeliet, nämligen en skildring av Jesus verksamhet i dödsriket under tiden mellan korsfästelsen och återuppståndelsen. Flera gammaltestamentliga karaktärer uppträder, som Adam, Jesaja och Elia. Tanken med denna framställning kan ha varit att Jesus skulle omvända de dödas själar.

Evangeliet avslutas med en skildring av ett möte i Jerusalems tempel där Pilatus söker få Stora Rådet att göra avbön för dödsdomen mot Jesus.

Namnet Nikodemusevangeliet förekommer först på 700-talet

Översättningar

• till norrønt (norska) på 1100-tallet som Niðrstigningar saga ('Nedstigningssagaen').
• Isländska, (förlorad)
• Medeltidssvenska - se Wikisource nedan
• Engelska, finns digitalt i museet

Översikt

I

    1 Christ accused to Pilate by the Jews of healing on the Sabbath. 
    9 Summoned before Pilate by a messenger who does him honour. 
   20 Worshipped by the standards bowing down to him. 

II

    2 Is comppassionated by Pilate's wife, 
    7 charged with being born in fornication. 
   12 Testimony to the betrothing of his parents. 
   15 Hatred of the Jews to him.

III

    1 Is exonerated by Pilate. 
   11 Disputes with Pilate concerning truth.

IV

    1 Pilate finds no fault in Jesus. 
   16 The Jews demand his crucifixion.

V

    1 Nicodemus speaks in defence of Christ, and relates his miracles. 
   12 Another Jew,
   26 with Veronica, 
   34 Centurio, and others, testify of other miracles. 

VI

    1 Pilate dismayed by the turbulence of the Jews, 
    5 who demand Barabbas to be released, and Christ to be crucified. 
    9 Pilate warmly expostulates with them, 
   20 washes his hands of Christ's blood, 
   23 and sentences him to be whipped and crucified. 

VII

    1 Manner of Christ's crucifixion with the two thieves. 

VIII

    1 Miraculous appearance at his death. 
   10 The Jews say the eclipse was natural. 
   12 Joseph of Arimathcea embalms Christ's body and buries it.

IX

    1 The Jews angry with Nicodemus: 
    5 and with, Joseph of Arimathaea, 
    7 whom they imprison. 

X

    1 Joseph's escape. 
    2 The soldiers relate Christ's resurrection. 
   18 Christ is seen preaching in Galilee. 
   21 The Jews repent of their cruelty to him

XI

    1 Nicodemus counsels the Jews. 
    6 Joseph found. 
   11 Invited by the Jews to return. 
   19 Relates the manner of his miraculous escape. 

XII

    1 The Jews astonished and confounded. 
   16 Simeon's two sons, Charinus and Lenthius, rise from the dead at Christ's crucifixion. 
   19 Joseph proposes to get them to relate the mysteries of their resurrection.
   21 They are sought and found, 
   22 brought to the synagogue, 
   23 privately sworn to secrecy, 
   25 and undertake to write what they had seen.

XIII

    1 The narrative of Charinus and Lenthius commences. 
    3 A great light in hell. 
    7 Simeon arrives, and announces the coming of Christ. 

XIV

    1 Adam causes Seth to relate what he heard from Michael the archangel, when he sent him to Paradise to entreat God to anoint his head in his sickness.

XV

    1 Quarrel between Satan and the prince of hell, concerning the expected arrival of Christ in hell.

XVI

    1 Christ's arrival at hell-gates; the confusion thereupon. 
   19 He descends into hell.

XVII

    1 Death and the devils in great horror at Christ's coming. 
   13 He tramples on death, seizes the prince of hell, and takes Adam with him to Heaven.

XVIII

    1 Beelzebub, prince of hell, vehemently upbraids Satan for persecuting Christ and bringing him to hell. 
   14 Christ gives Beelzebub dominion over Satan forever, as a recompence for taking away Adam and his sons

XIX

    1 Christ takes Adam by the hand, the rest of the saints join hands, and they all ascend with him to Paradise

XX

    1 Christ delivers Adam to Michael the archangel. 
    3 They meet Enoch and Elijah in heaven, 
    5 and also the blessed thief, who relates how he came to Paradise.

XXI

    1 Charinus and Lenthius being only allowed three days to remain on earth, 
    7 deliver in their narratives, which miraculously correspond; they vanish, 
   13 and Pilate records these transactions

XXII

    1 Pilate goes to the temple; calls together the rulers, and scribes, and doctors. 
    2 Commands the gates to be shut; orders the book of the Scriptures; and causes the Jews to relate what they really knew concerning Christ. 
   14 They declare that they crucified Christ in ignorance, and that they now know him to be the Son of God, 
       according to the testimony of the Scriptures; which, after they put him to death, were examined

In the name of the Holy Trinity, thus end the acts of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which
the Emperor Theodosius the Great found at Jerusalem, in the hall of Pontius Pilate,
among the public records; the things were acted in the nineteenth year of Tiberius
Caesar, Emperor of the Romans, and in the seventeenth year of the government of
Herod, the son of Herod and of Galilee, on the eighth of the calends of April, which is
the twenty-third day of the month of March, in the CCIId Olympiad, when Joseph and
Caiaphas were rulers of the Jews; being a Histor y written in Hebrew by Nicodemus, of
what happened after our Saviour's crucifixion.

I den heliga treenighetens namn, dessa är vår Frälsare Jesu Christi handlingar, som kejsar Theodosius den store fann i Jerusalem, i Pontius Pilatus' palats, bland allmänna handlingar. Händelserna tilldrog sig i nittonde året av Tiberius tid, kejsare över romarna och sjuttonde året av Herodes styre, son till Herodes av Galileen, på den åttonde dagen i April, vilket är den 23 dagen i månaden Mars, i den två hundra andra olympiaden, när Josef och Kaifas var judarna härskare; Det är en historia skriven på hebreiska av Nikodemos, om vad som hände efter Frälsarens korsfästelse.

Se även

• Jesus i helvetet i konsten

Källor

• Svensk uppslagsbok. Bd 19, sp 1143.
• Nationalencyklopedin, uppslagsord Nikodemusevangeliet och Pilatusakterna

• Engelsk version, digitalt i museet
• Evangeliet på medeltidssvenska: WIKISOURCE Svenska medeltidens bibel-arbeten/Ewangelium Nichodemi