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2 Enoch

Secrets of Enoch

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Chapter 12

1 And I looked and saw other flying elements of the sun, whose names are Phoenixes and Chalkydri,⁠ marvelous and wonderful, with feet and tails in the form of a lion, and a crocodile's head, their appearance is purple, like the rainbow; their size is nine hundred measures, 2 their wings are like those of angels, each has twelve, and they attend and accompany the sun, bearing heat and dew, as they are ordered by God. 3 Thus the sun revolves and goes, and rises under the heaven, and its course goes under the earth with the light of its rays incessantly.

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Enoch 12:1 and 3 Baruch 6:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

2 Enoch and the apocalyptic text 3 Baruch refer to the mythical phoenix as a creature that travels with the sun. Greek and Roman tradition also connects the phoenix with the sun, but neither text includes its death and rebirth, the center of the myth.

Passages

2 Enoch 12:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
1 And I looked and saw other flying elements of the sun, whose names are Phoenixes and Chalkydri, marvelous and wonderful, with feet and tails in the form of a lion, and a crocodile's head, their appearance is purple, like the rainbow; their size is nine hundred measures, 2 their wings are like those of angels, each has twelve, and they attend and accompany the sun, bearing heat and dew, as they are ordered by God.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

3 Baruch 6:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Greek Apocalypse of Baruch
2 And he showed me a chariot with four horses, with a fire burning underneath, and a man was sitting in the chariot, wearing a crown of fire, (and) the chariot (was) drawn by forty angels. And look, a bird was circling in front of the sun, about nine cubits away. 3 And I said to the angel, What is this bird? And he said to me, This is the guardian of the earth. 4 And I said, Lord, how is he the guardian of the earth? Teach me. 5 And the angel said to me, This bird flies alongside the sun and spreads his wings to catch its fiery rays. 6 For if he did not catch them, the human race would not survive, nor would any other living creature. But God appointed this bird for this purpose. 7 And he spread his wings, and I saw on his right wing very large letters, as large as a threshing floor, the size of about four thousand modii; and the letters were of gold. 8 And the angel said to me, Read them. And I read and this is what they said: Neither earth nor heaven gave me birth, but wings of fire gave me birth. 9 And I said, Lord, what is this bird, and what is his name? 10 And the angel said to me, His name is Phoenix. 11 (And I said), And what does he eat? And he said to me, The manna of heaven and the dew of earth.
1–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Baruch

References

“... 2. Early Jewish Phoenix. So called “phoenixes and chalkydri” (in plural; in fact, according to some mss of 2 Enoch (ms R = NLB 321) they are just “like phoenixes and chalkydri”) accompany the sun in 2 Enoch. [...] The Sun Bird of 3 Baruch is “Phoenix” only in name. It bears the Greek name, but lacks the main features of the phoenix of Hellenistic and Christian traditions. [...] 3 Baruch, as well as “phoenixes” of 2 Enoch, may instead represent the superficial Hellenization (or pure intercultural translation) of an image belonging to the Jewish lore that underlies both apocalyptic and Rabbinic sources. ...”
Alexander Kulik, Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), 238, 243.

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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2 Enoch 12:1 and 3 Baruch 6:2

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