The Hymn of the Pearl (also Hymn of the Soul, Hymn of the Robe of Glory or Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle) is a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. In that work, originally written in Syriac, the Apostle Thomas sings the hymn while praying for himself and fellow prisoners. Some scholars believe the hymn predates 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 from Edessa due to some parallels between his life and that of the hymn. It is believed to have been written in the 2nd century or even possibly the 1st century, and shows influences from heroic folk epics from the region.

Extracts from the text

The following text is from Wikisource, which contains the full text of the hymn.

Uses in art and media

  • Hymn of the Pearl (Choral Composition) composed by Kevin Anthony and performed by BYU Singers.
  • Kenogaia: a Gnostic tale (Book) by David Bentley Hart

References

Further reading

  • Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin (2005). The Gnostic Bible: Gnostic Texts of Mystical Wisdom from the Ancient and Medieval Worlds Shambhala Publications, Boston MA. . pp. 386–394.
  • Myers, Susan E. (2010). Spirit Epicleses in the Acts of Thomas. Mohr Siebeck, . pp. 71–74.
  • Hymn of the Pearl
  • Audio with commentary
  • Audio of the Hymn of the Pearl translated and read by Willis Barnstone
  • Chiastic outline of Hymn of the Robe of Glory