The Gospel of the Twin

An ancient legend says that Jesus had a twin brother Thomas. An extra-Biblical text that dates from perhaps as early as the late first century CE (which would make it the same age as the Biblical Gospels) claims to be the secret teachings of Jesus as recorded by "Judas Didymos Thomas." The Greek word "Didymos" and the Aramaic word "Thomas" both mean "twin." While only several Greek fragments of this manuscript, dating to the early second century CE, actually exist, a manuscript written in Coptic from the fourth century was discovered in 1945. This Gospel of Thomas contains 114 purported sayings of Jesus, many of which resemble passages in the New Testament.