Apocalypse of Elijah

The Apocalypse of Elijah is an early Christian work written in the Coptic language commonly held to be a documentation of the oral presentation of multiple original and classical manuscripts. Presented in part as the direct word of the Hebrew God, Yahweh, to the biblical prophet Elijah, from where its name is derived, the text includes a short commentary on some early Christian fasting and prayer disciplines, a prophetic message about the kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt, and accounts of the presentation of the antichrist, his encounters with Elijah and Enoch, and his ultimate demise.

Although it is given the title of apocalypse, it does not have many of the usual traits of a classical apocalypse; yet, it ties together critical themes of apocalyptic literature such as kingdom eschatology and antichrist imagery.

There is another Apocalypse of Elijah dating from the 3rd–7th centuries (Sefer Elijah or Sefer Eliahu) written in Hebrew to a Jewish audience, but it does not appear to share any significant similarities or inspiration from the Coptic, Christian work.

Contrary to what the title would suggest, the Coptic text is not often formally considered to be an apocalypse in genre, nor is it believed to be written or influenced by the biblical prophet Elijah. The prophet's inclusion twice within the text presents a likely origin for the name, though his mention is always immediately connected in proximity to the biblical figure of Enoch.

Additionally, around the time of the manuscript’s potential origin within the Christian communities in Egypt (discussed in detail below), there is evidence for the existence of multiple pseudepigraphic works attributed to the prophet Elijah, most famously referenced by the 4th century theologian Didymus the Blind. These texts included another apocalyptic work elucidating a revelation to Elijah of the nature of hell, much in the same manner as the Apocalypses of Peter and of Paul.

There is another text called the Apocalypse of Elijah that is referenced by both Origen and Jerome, early Christian scholars, that was subject to debate concerning its relationship to Paul the Apostle's first letter to the Corinthians. This debate arose around the section of 1 Corinthians 2:9: "which the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard," which Origen attributed first to the Apocalypse of Elijah while Jerome held that Paul likely did not cite the apocalypse. Whatever the case may be, this phrase is not found in any of the existing forms of the Apocalypse of Elijah and thus suggests an entirely separate variant. Whether this text is the very same as that detailing Elijah's journey through hell is unknown.

Together, these pseudepigraphic works allude to a period of time in early Christianity where Elijah was considered to be an important biblical figure and his name was associated with a number of circulating manuscripts. More specifically, there is reason to believe that early Egyptian Christian scribes, suspected first because of the existing Coptic renditions of the text, would have had both a literary basis and a religious basis for pseudonymously ascribing the work to Elijah.

Firstly, there are a host of recessional documents and original texts coming from that era that establish a tradition of Elijah receiving revelations, putting him as a prime pseudonymous author. Secondly, there are stories of Egyptian Christians taking on the names of prophets such as Elijah in place of their own, and there are numerous monastic traditions of piety surrounding the life and 'monastic' practices of Elijah that paint a strong picture of Elijah as a significant religious figure in the Coptic tradition. Finally, within the text itself, in chapter 2, there are many references to Egypt as the site of many of the coming events predicted within the text, solidifying the notion that the authors were Christians living in Egypt at the time.