An apocryphal Gospel which was
banned by the early Roman Church was the long lost
Gospel of Didymos Judas Thomas
Fragments of a Greek Gospel of Thomas were discovered
in the 1890's. A complete version was rediscovered in
Nag Hammadi in the 1940s.
Differing from the New Testament gospels , the text of
Gospel of Didymos Judas Thomas
Other Nag Hammadi texts are
- The Book of Thomas the Contender
. Jesus once again addresses Thomas as his twin and as "one who knows himself."
- The Acts of Judas Thomas
, an account of Thomas' travels and ascetic teachings in the Indian subcontinent.
Gospel Records of the Jesus Twins
The Canonical Gospel of John also makes reference to in a somewhat
secretive fashion to the twin brother of Jesus. The following are
variant translations
John 11:16
King James Thomas ,called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
New Internat'l Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
John 21:2
King James There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
New Internat'l Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together
John 20:24
King James Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Amplified Bible But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came
Mehgheehlla Scroll {Safed Scroll}
Rabbi Hillel
Discovered near
Lake Tiberius in 1882 it is also called the Safed Scroll. In this text,
there were two brothers called Yeshai and Judas ben Halachmee who were
the bastard twins of a young girl called
Stadea.
Stadea is obviously the equivalent of Stada in the Talmud.
Halachmee was the name of Stadea's later husband, not the actual
father of her sons.
Halachmee was the surname given to the illegitimate twins. They
were taken in, raised and educated by the religious order of Essenes .
One of the boys became a student of a Rabbi Hillel , and the other became
the leader of the Essenes. The Scroll also states that an elder Essene named Joseph became Yeshai's
'religious father' and guardian.
Rabbi Hillel [Circa 60 BC – 20 AD] was a prominent and revered Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod , he is one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with a trove of rabbinical literature. Hillel's grave is said to be a few miles north-west of the Sea of Galilee. Many of Yeshua's teachings are similar to Hillel's. Hilell was referred to as 'Nasi' meaning prince, or ruler and the similarity to Nasorean/Nazarene is notable. He is credited with the following statement "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn" . He is said to have believed in a kingdom to come and a resurrection ,he preached to gentiles and believed in their salvation. And, ... He was a carpenter.
The Rabbinic Mind
Hillel's ancestry, perhaps based upon family traditions, was traced back to King David, as was that of Jesus in the Gospel narratives.
Hillel and Jesus: Comparisons of Two Major Religious Leaders
Jesus the Pharisee: A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus
Jesus Steals from Hillel!
Seven Ways Yeshua Fulfilled The Law
Yeshai ben Halachmee's outspoken religious views angered the Jewish priests. He was tried by a Roman court on a charge of inciting the people to rebel against Rome, found guilty and sentenced to death, but escaped and traveled to India.
Revelations within this scroll contain an enormity of correlations to both Talmudic sources as well as Christian and Gnostic Apocrypha . For instance and in particular the Twin Brother of Jesus, which has long been hypothesized about. Known as Judas Didymus Thomas, all three names which mean Twin. Judas Didymus Thomas is Known to Casual Christians as the "Doubting Thomas" or the Apostle Thomas, the one who traveled to India after the crucifixion while the other apostles went to regions within the Roman realm.
In the Jesus in India stories, as well as Islamic sources he is referred to as Issa, which bears a phonetic similarity to Yeshu/ Yeshai / Yeshua.
Jesus In India: An Account Of Jesus' Escape From Death On The Cross And His Journey To India