I remember seeing something called the “Hymn of the Pearl” that has a line that translates like this:
The
Hymn of the Pearl is a passage of the apocryphal work
Acts of Thomas, presented in that work as a hymn Thomas recites while praying for himself and fellow prisoners. Some scholars believe the hymn antedates the Acts, as it only appears in one Syriac manuscript and one Greek manuscript of the
Acts of Thomas. The hymn, as it comes down to us, has a rather Gnostic tone according to some experts - there is a theory that the author may have been the 2nd-century Syriac Gnostic
Bardaisan (Bardesanes) or someone connected to him due to some parallels between his life and that of the hymn, though there is no exact agreement as to what tradition, gnostic or otherwise, produced this hymn.
Some supporters of the Shroud’s authenticity
do connect the image and the hymn because of certain enigmatic lines found in the poem.
To summarize, the hymn tells the story of a boy, son of “
the king of kings” and “
the mistress of the East,” who is sent to Egypt to retrieve a pearl guarded a “
loud-breathing serpent.” Before leaving, the parents take off his royal robes from him, with a bargain that he would wear them again and be heir in the kingdom along with his brother, the crown prince, should he succeed in his mission. With a burden precious yet light, he makes off for Egypt and established himself in the neighborhood of the serpent. During the quest, he is seduced by the Egyptians - who noted that he was not their countryman - and as a consequence, forgets his origin, his family and his mission.
His parents perceived what had befallen him, and a letter is then sent to remind him of his past. When the boy receives the letter, he remembers his mission, retrieves the pearl - he puts the serpent to sleep by naming the names of his father, brother and mother like a sort of trinitarian formula - and returns back triumphant to his father’s kingdom. When the boy is finally near his home, his parents send him the royal robes which he cast off upon embarking his mission:
And my bright robe, which I had stripped off,
and the toga that was wrapped with it,
from Rantha and Reken(?)
my parents had sent thither
by the hand of their treasurers,
who in their truth could be trusted therewith.
And because I remembered not its fashion,–
for in my childhood I had left it in my father’s house,–
on a sudden, when I received it,
the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself.
I saw it all in all,
and I to received all in it,
for we were two in distinction
and yet gain one in one likeness.
And the treasurers too,
who brought it to me, I saw in like manner
to be two (and yet) one likeness,
for one sign of the king was written on them (both),
of the hands of him who restored to me through them
my trust and my wealth,
my decorated robe, which
was adorned with glorious colors,
with gold and beryls
and rubies and agates
and sardonyxes, varied in color.
And it was skillfully worked in its home on high,
and with diamond clasps
were all its seams fastened;
and the image of the king of kings
was embroidered and depicted in full all over it,
and like the stone of the sapphire too
its hues were varied.
And I saw also that all over it
the instincts of knowledge were working,
and I saw too that it was preparing to speak.
I heard the sound of its tones,
which it uttered with its…, (saying):
"
I am the active in deeds,
whom they reared for him before my father;
and I perceived myself,
that my stature grew according to his labors."
And in its kingly movements
it poured itself entirely over me,
and on the hand of its givers
it hastened that I might take it.
And love urged me too run
to meet it and receive it;
and I stretched forth and took it.
With the beauty of its colors I adorned myself,
and I wrapped myself wholly in my toga
of brilliant hues.
I clothed myself with it, and went up to the gate
of salutation and prostration;
I bowed my head and worshipped the majesty
of my father who sent me,–
for I had done his commandments,
and he too had done what he promised,–
and the gate of his…,
I mingled with his princes,
for he rejoiced in me and received me,
and I was with him in his kingdom,
and with the voice of…
all his servants praised him.
And he promised that to the gate too
of the king of kings with him I should go,
and with my offering and my pearl
with him should present myself to our king.
