East.
And I snatched away the pearl,
and turned to go back to my father’s house.
And their filthy and unclean dress I stripped off,
and left it in their country;
and I took my way straight to come
to the light of our home in the East.
And my letter, my awakener,
I found before me on the road;
and as with its voice it had awakened me,
(so) too with its light it was leading me.
It, that dwelt in the palace,
gave light before me with its form,
and with its voice and its guidance
it also encouraged me to speed,
and with its love it drew me on.
I went forth (and) passed by Sarbug;
I left Babel on my left hand;
and I came to the great Maisan,
to the haven of merchants,
which sitteth on the shore of the sea.
And my bright robe, which I had stripped off,
and the toga that was wrapped with it,
from Rantha and Reken[?]
my parents had sent thither
by the hand of their treasures,
who in their truth could be trusted therewith.
And because I remembered not its fashion,—
for in my childhood I had left it in my father’s house,—
on a sudden, when I received it,
the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself.
I saw it all in all,
and I to received all in it,
for we were two in distinction
and yet gain one in one likeness.
And the treasurers too,
who brought it to me, I saw in like manner
to be two (and yet) one likeness,
for one sign of the king was written on them (both),
of the hands of him who restored to me through them
my trust and my wealth,
my decorated robe, which
was adorned with glorious colors,
with gold and beryls
and rubies and agates
and sardonyxes, varied in color.
And it was skillfully worked in its home on high,
and with diamond clasps
were all its seams fastened;
and the image of the king of kings
was embroidered and depicted in full all over it,
and like the stone of the sapphire too
its hues were varied.
And I saw also that all over it
the instincts of knowledge were working,
and I saw too that it was preparing to speak.
I heard the sound of its tones,
which it uttered with its (illegible text), (saying):
“I am the active in deeds,
whom they reared for him before my father;
and I perceived myself,
that my stature grew according to his labors.”
And in its kingly movements
it poured itself entirely over me,
and on the hand of its givers
it hastened that I might take it.
And love urged me to run
to meet it and receive it;
and I stretched forth and took it.
With the beauty of its colors I adorned myself,
and I wrapped myself wholly in my toga
of brilliant hues.
I clothed myself with it, and went up to the gate
of salutation and prostration;
I bowed my head and worshipped the majesty
of my father who sent me,—
for I had done his commandments,
and he too had done what he promised,—
and the gate of his (illegible text),
I mingled with his princes,
for he rejoiced in me and received me,
and I was with him in his kingdom,
and with the voice of (illegible text)
all his servants praised him.
And he promised that to the gate too
of the king of kings with him I should go,
and with my offering and my pearl
with him should present myself to our king.
The Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostles,
which he spake in prison, is ended.
• • •
This hymn is a Gnostic text lifted from the Acts of Thomas. It comprises a portion of the entire apocryphal text. It is entitled; The Hymn of the Pearl and is a story about the princely nature of a son that sets out to recapture the immense PEARL (at the behest of his parents) that is hidden in the ocean
