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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 46

1 And there I saw One who had a head of days, and His head was white like wool. With Him was another being who had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels.⁠ 2 And I asked the angel who accompanied me and showed me all the hidden things, about that Son of Man, who he was, where he was from, and why he accompanied the Head of Days? 3 The angel answered and said to me: 'This is the Son of Man who possesses righteousness, with whom righteousness dwells, and who reveals all the hidden treasures, because the Lord of Spirits has chosen him, and his status is foremost before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness forever.'⁠ 4 'And this Son of Man whom you have seen will raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats, and the strong from their thrones, will loosen the reins of the strong, and break the teeth of the sinners.'⁠ 5 'And he shall depose the kings from their thrones and kingdoms because they do not praise and honor Him, nor humbly acknowledge where the kingdom was bestowed upon them.' 6 'And he shall humble the faces of the strong, and fill them with shame. And darkness shall be their dwelling, and worms shall be their bed, and they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, because they do not praise the name of the Lord of Spirits.' 7 'And these are those who judge the stars of heaven, and raise their hands against the Most High, and tread upon the earth and dwell upon it. And all their deeds manifest unrighteousness, and their power rests on their riches, and their faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands, and they deny the name of the Lord of Spirits.' 8 'And they persecute the houses of His congregations, and the faithful who depend on the name of the Lord of Spirits.'⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 46:1 and Acts 6:15

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Acts describes Stephen’s face shining like an angel. This resembles the description in 1 Enoch of a radiant, angel-like figure, based on the ancient Near Eastern and Hebrew Bible concept of melammu, where contact with divine beings causes one to shine.

Passages

1 Enoch 46:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And there I saw One who had a head of days, and His head was white like wool. With Him was another being who had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. 2 And I asked the angel who accompanied me and showed me all the hidden things, about that Son of Man, who he was, where he was from, and why he accompanied the Head of Days? 3 The angel answered and said to me: 'This is the Son of Man who possesses righteousness, with whom righteousness dwells, and who reveals all the hidden treasures, because the Lord of Spirits has chosen him, and his status is foremost before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness forever.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Acts 6:15

New Testament
13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law. 14 For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” 15 All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

References

"... In conclusion, we must again draw our attention to the account of Enoch’s glorified face, as it is found in the first chapter of the Slavonic apocalypse. It is possible that this transformational account was designed by its authors not only to proleptically anticipate the seer’s glorious metamorphosis before the fearful face, but also to anticipate the eschatological transformation of the righteous (Such proleptic glorifications that anticipate the future glorious transformation of the seer can be found in some Jewish and Christian accounts, including the metamorphosis of Stephen in Acts 6:15) ..."
Andrei A. Orlov, Demons of Change: Antagonism and Apotheosis in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2020), 154.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 46:1 and Acts 6:15

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