Texts in Conversation
In the apocalyptic text 3 Baruch, a voice at sunrise calls on the light giver to light the world, and the phoenix is heard. In the Physiologus, an early Christian handbook of animal lore, nearly the same call appears as the gryphon rises with the sun.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
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.
Physiologus 47:1
Early Christian
1 The Gryphon is the largest bird of all the birds of heaven. It lives in the far East in an inlet of the ocean-stream. And, when the sun rises over the water-depths and lights the world with its beams, the Gryphon spreads out its wings and receives the rays of the sun. And another rises with it, and the two fly together toward the sunset, as it is written: "Spread your wings, dispenser of light; give the world light." 2 In the same way the two Gryphons stand for the Godhead, that is, for the Archangel Michael and the Holy Mother of God, and they receive your spirit, so that it may not be said: "I do not know you." 3 Physiologus spoke well about the Gryphon.
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Notes and References
“... Similar traditions are preserved in texts posterior to 3 Baruch, of which at least some may be dependent on it (Laevius, Pterigion Phoenicis; Byzantine Physiologus; Disputatio Panagiotae). In some of these sources magic birds also moderate the sun’s radiation (see James, “Baruch,” lxiv; Ryssel, “Baruch,” 452; Broek 261f; 287–297). Griffin of Byzantine Physiologus (52) shares also the unique motif of the inscription on the bird’s wings (3 Bar. 6:7–8). Moreover, these words are almost identical to 3 Bar. 6:14: “O Light giver, give light to the world!” (Harlow, Baruch, 137; cf. also in Slavonic versions of Physiologus; Belova, Bestiarij, 92; 283). ...”
* 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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