Texts in Conversation
In 2 Enoch, phoenixes sing at sunrise as the giver of light arrives, and the apocalyptic text 3 Baruch gives a similar cry to its phoenix. These follow the Greek and Roman tradition preserved by Pliny the Elder, where the phoenix is sacred to the sun.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Enoch 15:2
Secrets of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then the elements of the sun, called Phoenixes and Chalkydri, break into song. Therefore, every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they break into song at the command of the Lord. 2 The giver of light comes to give brightness to the whole world, and the morning guard takes shape, which is the rays of the sun, and the sun of the earth goes out, and receives its brightness to light up the whole face of the earth, and they showed me this calculation of the sun's going. 3 And the gates which it enters, these are the great gates of the calculation of the hours of the year; for this reason, the sun is a great creation, whose circuit lasts twenty-eight years, and begins again from the beginning.
3 Baruch 6:13
Greek Apocalypse of Baruch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
11 see the glory of God. And while he was conversing with me, there was as a thunder-clap, and the place was shaken on which we were standing. And I asked the angel, My Lord, what is this sound? And the angel said to me, Even now the angels are opening the three hundred and sixty-five gates 12 of heaven, and the light is being separated from the darkness. And a voice came which said, Light 13 giver, give to the world radiance. And when I heard the noise of the bird, I said, Lord, what is this 14 noise? And he said, This is the bird who awakens from slumber the cocks upon earth. For as men do through the mouth, so also does the cock signify to those in the world, in his own speech. For the sun is made ready by the angels, and the cock crows.
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Notes and References
“... Many parallels to the sun and moon chariots of 3 Baruch are found in 2 En: [...] Phoenixes and chalkydri sing: “The light-giver is coming to give radiance to the whole world” (2 En. (J) 15:2; as in 3 Baruch 6:14). [...] When the sun rises, they greet it (as in 3 Bar. 6:14S): the elements of the sun, called phoenixes and chalkydri break into song, herefore every bird flutters with its wings, rejoicing at the giver of light, and they broke into song at the command of the Lord. (2 En. (J) 15:1) In 2 En. (J) 15:2 they also pronounce, “The Light giver is coming to give radiance to the whole world” (as in 3 Bar. 6:14S). ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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