The Vision of Theophilus

"The Vision of Theophilus is an apocryphal work that enjoyed great popularity in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages [wrongly attributed to the Patriarch Theophilus (385-412 CE)]. The original text, now lost, was composed in Coptic, but versions have survived in Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic. The Arabic version, which is undoubtedly based on a Coptic original, depends on Zachariah of Sakha's Homily, if not from a common source. The text, which is part of the circle of the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, is a narrative text that contains some interesting legendary material of various origins and provenance, embedded in a homiletic format. One of the most significant features offered by this account is the history of the text itself, and the considerable challenge faced by any scholar seeking to establish the chronological relationship between the various surviving versions."--