The Reception of Ezekiel’s Throne Vision in the Apocalypse of Abraham and its Manuscript Tradition

John Dik

Abstract

This paper brings together insights from different research areas by on the one hand examining the Apocalypse of Abraham in its context of ancient Judaism and on the other hand looking at the fourteenth century context of its manuscript-tradition. Special attention is given to how the Apocalypse of Abraham receives Ezekiel in order to create its distinct vision of God’s throne. The copyist/redactor of the manuscript in Old Church Slavonic adds six miniatures to his codex depicting essential scenes from the Apocalypse of Abraham. However, when looking at the miniature of Abraham and the angel Jaoel before God’s throne, one wonders if the miniaturist knew the text of the Apocalypse of Abraham at all or if he wanted to create his own vision of God’s throne thereby correcting/adding to the meaning of the Apocalypse’s vison of the throne. By examining both the original and the manuscript context of the work multiple discourses are opened and new questions of transmission of ancient Jewish texts in Christian transmission arise. The paper wants to encourage further research in the field of Slavonic pseudepigrapha and its transmission which is still a neglected field of academic endeavor.