The Miracle of the Mixed Inks: A Rare Episode of the Ethiopic Infancy Gospel

Abstract The paper is an edition (with an English translation) of an episode of the apocryphon, designated here as the Ethiopic Infancy Gospel , which outside Ethiopia is known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas . The Ethiopic Infancy Gospel which generally consists of a standard collection of thirteen stories appears in numerous Ethiopic manuscripts containing the Miracles of Jesus ( Taʼammǝra Iyasus ), a composition translated from (Copto-)Arabic. The episode edited here does not belong to that group. Presently known from three manuscripts only, it relates a miracle of Jesus the Child, who having mixed his teacher’s red and black inks, later, miraculously, separated them. In the introduction to the edition two hypotheses of the origin of the Ethiopic Infancy Gospel ‒ Greek and Arabic ‒ are discussed, as well as the dissemination of other tales about the miracles of Jesus the Child. Modelled on the standard stories, they are found in Ethiopic manuscripts containing various texts but in the first place as part of the Story of Mary ( Nagara Māryām ). As the Miracle of the Mixed Inks , along with other episodes of the Ethiopic Infancy Gospel , were illustrated in the manuscripts and in wall paintings, an overview of the pictorial repertory of the miracle has also been included.