Apocrypha
Odes of Solomon
Odae Solomontos
42 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
42 early Christian hymns, probably from the 2nd century, in images of milk, crown and living water. The oldest liturgical poetry to survive outside the Psalms.
Chapters
Dossier
Forty-two early Christian hymns, full of images of water, milk, crown and dove — the oldest poetry of the church that has reached us.
Where this text comes from
Probably from the late 1st or the 2nd century AD, almost certainly in Syriac, though a Greek original is debated. They were rediscovered in 1909, in a Syriac manuscript that J. Rendel Harris identified by chance on his own shelf.
Why it is not in the Bible
Never part of any canon. Some of them, however, are quoted inside Pistis Sophia, which shows they circulated with authority in certain circles.
What you will find
- Ode 19, with its image of the Father's milk and the Virgin's conception, is one of the strangest and most beautiful passages in early Christian poetry.
- Ode 42 has Christ descending to the world of the dead and being received by them.
- The speaking voice shifts between the believer and Christ himself without warning, throughout the collection.
Frequently asked questions
- Are the Odes of Solomon Christian or Jewish?
- Most scholars regard them as early Christian, possibly from a Syriac Jewish-Christian setting. The older view of a Jewish original with Christian retouching has lost ground.