The votive day of the apostle Jude

In April 2006, a team of scholars presented to the world the newly discovered ancient text of the Gospel of Judas, which begins with the words: Easter. As a member of the team that analyzed and translated the code, Marvin Meyer not only confirmed its authenticity, but said with conviction: “He does nothing that Jesus did not ask him to do, he listens to it and remains faithful to it. In Scripture, Judas Iscariot is Jesus' beloved disciple and dear friend.

This gospel was well known in the early years of Christianity, but was rejected by the Church as the work of the Gnostics. Gnostics are rejected because they are the "knowers" who connect the teachings of Christ with the ancient knowledge of our lands.

But Mikhail Bulgakov was right that "the manuscripts do not burn." Doomed to destruction, they are resurrected, probably because God himself loves the sacred truth that will set us free. Therefore, on the sorrowful day of Jesus' arrest, let us leaf through the resurrected Gospel (which in Bulgarian means "gospel") of Judas:

"8. Jesus said unto them, How know ye that I am? I tell you the truth, no generation of people among you will know me.

9. And when his disciples heard it, they were angry and indignant, and blasphemed in their hearts against him.

10. When Jesus saw that they understood not, he said unto them, Why are ye angry? Your God who is in you and (...) made you angry in your souls. Let this one of you, who is strong enough among men, reveal the perfect man and stand before my face.

11. They all said: We have this power.

12. But their spirits did not have the courage to stand before him, except Judas Iscariot. He was able to stand in front of him, but he couldn't look him in the eye and turned his face away.

13. And Judah said unto him, I know who thou art, and whence thou camest. You are from the immortal kingdom of Barbello. And I am not worthy to say the name of the One who sent you (the Gnostics called Barbello the kingdom of heaven).

14. Knowing that Judas meant something very high, Jesus said to him: Come aside and I will reveal to you the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is possible for you to reach it, but it will fill you with great sorrow. Because someone else will replace you, so that the twelve disciples can merge again with their God. " 

The text has been removed from parchment, which has been badly damaged over the centuries, and especially over the decades, when greedy treasure hunters and resellers have tried to sell it at an insanely high price. The team of specialists glued the broken sheets piece by piece, but they did not manage to save everything from the text, so there are many gaps in the published gospel, marked with dots.

32. But you will surpass them all. For, you will sacrifice the man, who has wrapped me like a garment.

33. Your horn has already sounded. And your anger is already burning. Your star shone brightly. And your heart (...)

34. ... And then the image of the great generation of Adam will be exalted, because this generation, which comes from the eternal kingdoms, exists even before heaven, earth and angels. Here, I told you everything. Look up and see the cloud and the light in it, and the stars that surround it. The guiding star is your star.

35. And Judah looked up, and saw the cloud of light, and entered into it. And those who stood on the earth heard a voice from the cloud, which said (...) a great generation (...) an image (... five missing lines)

36. (...) Their chief priests were displeased, for he had entered into the guest room for his prayer. But some scribes were there waiting for a convenient moment to arrest him during his prayer, because they were afraid of the people because they considered him a prophet.

37. And they came to Judah, and said unto him, What doest thou here? You are a disciple of Jesus.

38. And Judah told them what they wished to hear. And he got some money and gave it to them. 

An interesting addition is made by the secret gospel for the perfect among the Bogomils, which was written in Bulgaria by Pope Jeremiah at the end of the tenth century. Christ, how is priest… placed, and Jeremiah is called “Bulgarian priest” (Pogodin index). It is mainly studied by researchers of the Apocrypha in old Bulgarian literature, so it is known among experts as "The Tale of the Tree of the Cross". After detailing a completely unexpected version of Jesus' life in Jerusalem, it reads: "When Jesus was 60 years old, all that was written in the books of all the prophets was fulfilled for him. From that moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to pass it on to them. In the reign of Pilate, Lord Christ voluntarily went to be crucified. Pilate, washing his hands, handed it to them and they crowned it with thorns.

According to Bogomil cosmogony, the people of the Earth are angels locked by Satanail in the clay bodies he made for them. In essence, this reflects the ancient belief of our Thracian ancestors that the soul is divine and immortal. It is known that the perfect Basil the Physician himself appeared before the Roman emperor Alexius Comnenus to confess to his stenographers the essence of Bulgarian teaching and to receive deliverance for his divine soul through the purifying fire of the stake before the eyes of the Constantinople audience. With this faith, the followers of our Bogomils in the West boldly go to the stake as an opportunity to get rid of the trials of the flesh, which imposes on us the soul-hardening body…

We are worthy to hold on to the suffering but defended and uncommitted faith of our dedicated ancestors. And what (besides our narrow-mindedness?) Would we lose if we tried to see with their own eyes what ordeal the apostle Judas went through to fulfill the original predestination: that when the man Jesus dies as "fully human," the Son of God will shine forth as " completely God ”?!

May Holy Thursday not be a day of hatred for us, but of compassion for a self-sacrifice misunderstood by the ignorant.

Author: Hristo Bukovski

1. The hanging of Judas 

2. Ivanovo The Last Supper – Ivanovo