The Hymn of the Pearl is a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas

Acts of Thomas

The early 3rd century text called Acts of Thomas is one of the New Testament apocrypha, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly Redeemer", independent of and beyond creation, who can free souls from the darkness of the world. References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in...

. In that work, originally written in Syriac

Syriac language

Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

, the Apostle Thomas sings the hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 while praying for himself and fellow prisoners. Some scholars believe the hymn antedates the Acts, as it only appears in one Syriac manuscript and one Greek manuscript of the Acts of Thomas. The author of the Hymn is unknown, though there is a belief that it was composed by the Syriac gnostic Bardaisan due to some parallels between his life and that of the hymn.

The hymn tells the story of a boy, "the son of the king of kings", who is sent to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 to retrieve a pearl

Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...

 from a serpent

Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...

. During the quest

Quest

In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...

, he is seduced by Egyptian

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

s and forgets his origin and his family. However, a letter is sent from the king of kings to remind him of his past. When the boy receives the letter, he remembers his mission, retrieves the pearl and returns. That the boy is implicitly Thomas rather than Jesus is indicated by the eventual assertion that he is next in line to his elder brother, this unnamed brother not otherwise mentioned in the text.

The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition

Human condition

The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...

, that we are spirit

Spirit

The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

s lost in a world of matter and forgetful our true origin. This state of affairs may be ameliorated by a revelatory message delivered by a messenger, a role is generally ascribed to Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

. The letter this takes on a symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...

ic representation of gnosis

Gnosis

Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge . In the context of the English language gnosis generally refers to the word's meaning within the spheres of Christian mysticism, Mystery religions and Gnosticism where it signifies 'spiritual knowledge' in the sense of mystical enlightenment.-Related...

.

The hymn has been preserved and especially treasured in Manichaeism

Manichaeism

Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...

 - a version of it appears as part of a north-African Manichaean Psalm book in written in Coptic, called the Psalms of Thomas

Psalms of Thomas

The Psalms of Thomas - more correctly "Psalms of Thom" - are an enigmatic set of psalms found appended to the end of the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-book, which was in turn part of the Medinet Madi Coptic Texts uncovered in 1928. Published in 1938 by C. R. C...

. The Hymn of the Pearl has also been admired by Orthodox Christian

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 thinkers.

Extracts from the text

Please note that wikisource

Wikisource

Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has...

 contains the full text of the hymn.

When I was a little child,

and dwelling in my kingdom of my father's house,

and in the riches and luxuries of my teachers,

I was living at ease.

[Then] from our home in the East,

after they had made preparations,

my parents sent me forth.

[...]

Then they made with me an agreement,

and they inscribed it in my heart so that it would not be forgotten:

"If [you would go] down into Egypt

and bring [back] the one pearl,

which is in the middle of the sea

surrounded by the hissing serpent,

then you will put on your glorious garment

and your toga which rests (is laid) over it.

And with your brother, our second in command,

you will be heir in our kingdom."

[...]

I went straight to the serpent,

around its lodging I settled

until it was going to slumber and sleep,

that I might snatch my pearl from it.

Then I became single and alone,

to my fellow-lodgers I became a stranger.

[...]

But in some way or another,

they perceived that I was not of their country.

So they mingled their deceit with me,

and they made me eat their food.

I forgot that I was a son of kings,

and I served their king.

And I forgot the pearl,

on account of which my parents had sent me.

Because of the burden of their exhortations,

I fell into a deep sleep.

But [because of] all these things which happened to me,

my parents perceived [my oppression], and were grieved for me.

[...]

And they wrote a letter to me,

and every noble signed his name on it.

"From your father, the king of kings,

and your mother, the governor of the East,

and from your brother, our second in command,

to you, our son, who is in Egypt, peace.

Awake and arise from your sleep,

and hear the words of our letter.

Remember that you are a son of kings,

consider the slavery you are serving.

Remember the pearl,

on account of which you were sent to Egypt.

Think of your glorious garment,

remember your splendid toga,

which you will put on and wear

when your name is called out from the book of the combatants (athletes).

And with your brother, our viceroy,

With him, you will be in our kingdom."

[...]

I remembered that I was a son of kings,

and my free soul longed for its natural state.

I remembered the pearl,

on account of which I was sent to Egypt.

Then I began charming it,

the formidable and hissing serpent.

I caused it to slumber and to fall asleep,

for my father's name I named over it,

and the name of our second in command (our double),

and of my mother, the queen of the East.

Then I snatched away the pearl,

and I turned to go back to my father's house.

And their filthy and unclean clothing,

I stripped off and left it in their country.

[...]

and my glorious garment which I had stripped off,

and my toga which was wrapped with it,, from the heights of Hyrcania,

my parents sent it there,

with the hand of their stewards,

who, on account of their faithfulness, could be trusted with it.

[...]

I clothed [myself] with it and ascended,

to the palace of peace and worship.

I bowed my head and worshipped him,

the brightness of my father who sent it to me.

Because I had done his commandments,

so also he did what he had promised.

And in the palace of his scribes

I mingled with his teachers,

because he rejoiced in me and received me,

and I was with him and in his kingdom.

And with the voice of praise,

all his servants were praising him.

And he also promised that to the palace

of the king of kings I will hasten with him.

And with my offering and with my pearl,

I should appear with him before our king.

External links

• Hymn of the Pearl
• Audio with commentary
• Audio of the Hymn of the Pearl translated and read by Willis Barnstone
• Text and Translations of the Hymn of the Pearl