bear children, he did not say it as abusing birth, for that is necessary for the salvation of believers." This saying must have had a wide circulation, though it did not suit the purpose of any canonical Gospel. A similar view of the body as an entrapment of the soul was an essential understanding of Gnosticism. The rejection of marriage was also supported by the Encratites and many of the other early Christian groupings praised celibacy, and therefore it is difficult to tell from what group the text originated. Comparison Another comparable verse appended to the Gospel of Thomas, probably in Egypt, reads: "114. Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "Look I shall guide her to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (translation by Elaine Pagels and Marvin Myer in Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief 2003, pp241f). The Second Epistle of Clement (12:2) closely paraphrases a passage that was also quoted by Clement of Alexandria (in Stromateis iii): iii. 13. 92. "When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female." Clement adds, "In the first place, then, we have not this saying in the four Gospels that have been delivered to us, but in that according to the Egyptians." The trope appears in the Gospel of Thomas, saying (37): "When you strip naked without being ashamed, and take your garments and put them under your feet like little children and tread upon them, then [you] will see the child of the living" (Thomas, Layton translation). For a somewhat later Gnostic work assigning a prominent role to Jesus' female disciples, see Pistis Sophia. See also List of Gospels References James, Montague Rhodes, 1924. The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press), pp 10 – 12. Cameron, Ron, 1982. The Other Gospels : Non-Canonical Gospel Texts (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press). External links Early Christian Writings: Gospel of the Egyptians Egyptians, Greek