Apocalypse of Paul
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The Apocalypse of Paul is one of the texts of the New Testament apocrypha. There is a version of the Apocalypse which features the Virgin Mary in the place of Paul, as the receiver of the vision, known as the Apocalypse of the Virgin. The text is not to be confused with the gnostic Apocalypse of Paul, which is unlikely to be related.
The text appears to be an elaborate expansion and rearrangement of the Apocalypse of Peter, and is essentially a description of a vision of Heaven, and then of Hell - although it also contains a prologue describing all creation appealing to God against the sin of man, which is not present in Peter's Apocalypse. At the end of the text, Paul/Mary manages to persuade God to give everyone in Hell a day off every Sunday.
The text extends Peter's Apocalypse by framing the reasons for the visits to heaven and hell as the witnessing of the death and judgement of one wicked man, and one who is righteous. The text is heavily moralistic, and adds, to the Apocalypse of Peter, features such as:
- Money is the root of all evil
- Heaven is the land of milk and honey
- Hell has rivers of fire and of ice (for the cold hearted)
- Some angels are evil, the dark angels of hell
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