The Apocryphal New Testament (1924)/Fragments of Gospels/Fragment of a Gospel
FRAGMENT OF A GOSPEL
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 655. This is a broken leaf of a papyrus roll of the third century. Very little of the second column—only the beginnings of words—remains.
(Take no thought)
from morning until evening
nor from evening
to morning, either for
your food, what ye
shall eat, nor for your
raiment, what ye shall
put on. Much better
are ye than the lilies
which do not card
nor spin . . .
having one gar-
ment, what . . . and
ye, who can add
unto your stat-
ure? He shall give
you your rai-
ment. His disciples
say unto him
When wilt thou
be manifest unto us and when
shall we see thee? He saith:
When ye have put off your raiment and
are not ashamed.
(Cf. the Gospel according to the Egyptians.)
Col. 2. The sense of the lower part only can be made out with certainty.
He said The key of knowledge have ye hidden:
yourselves ye entered not in, and to them that were
. . . . . (after two lines)
harmless as doves.
The other little pieces of the leaf give no sense.