A letter that fell from the sky
- Daniel Oltean
- Aug 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 11
According to popular piety, a mysterious letter fell directly from the sky to draw attention to Sunday observance. After remaining suspended in the air for three days, the letter descended among the faithful. It contained harsh words for those who did not attend church on Sundays. Although rightly contested by ecclesiastical authorities, this bizarre letter was read in Byzantium on the second Sunday of Lent, in a liturgical or monastic context.
A divine message
The text called Sunday Letter or Letter from Heaven (CANT 311) [1] enjoyed great popularity in the Christian world. The earliest mention of this writing belongs to Bishop Licianus of Cartagena (Spain) in the 6th century, according to whom the letter descended from heaven to Rome, to the church of St. Peter. [2] The same information is present in several ancient Greek manuscripts, which provide details of this miraculous apparition:
This letter was hung up in the midst of the temple, in the sanctuary. And Peter, the great apostle of the Lord, appeared to the bishop of Rome in a dream and said to him, “Rise, bishop, and see the immaculate letter of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [3]
Seeing the letter suspended in the air, the bishop summoned the faithful for a common prayer. After three days of worship, the letter descended into his hands, and the bishop read it to everyone. It contained clear instructions on Sunday observance, which repeated similar Jewish precepts regarding the Sabbath. In the Latin version of the text, the author also reminded the faithful of the obligation to pay tithes. [4]
According to the manuscript Vatican, BAV Barb. Gr. 284 (14th c.), the letter had to be read to the faithful on the second Sunday of Lent. [5] In another manuscript, the text begins with the formula “Bless, master!”, which testifies to a liturgical or monastic context. [6] The letter was therefore accepted by ecclesiastical communities. The letter’s dual nature explains its success: it contains curses for those who do not trust it, do not read it aloud, or do not listen to it wholeheartedly, but also blessings for those who copy it “for another city and other countries.” This malicious mixture of heavenly threats and blessings had emotional effects on the faithful, who acted accordingly.
Divine letters and celestial objects
At the time this text was composed, the idea that divine messages could reach humans in written form was not new. In the Old Testament, Moses is said to have received the commandments on two tablets of stone, “written with the finger of God.” [7] When the prophet Ezekiel was called to his mission, a heavenly hand bearing a scroll appeared to him, and a voice instructed him to eat it. [8]
As for Christian tradition, the letter that fell from the sky has several points in common with the legend of King Abgar V and the image of Edessa (present-day Şanlıurfa, Turkey). According to a pious tradition that developed over several centuries, Christ sent this king of Edessa an autograph letter, as well as the image of his face, printed on a cloth. Around the 6th century, both became objects of public veneration: the letter was inscribed on the gates of the city of Edessa to protect it, while the image was honoured as the most famous icon “not made by human hands” (acheiropoietos). [9] In other contexts, divine signs could arrive at humans in various material forms, as evidenced by the legends of the holy dust at the tomb of the apostle John in Ephesus and the heavenly fire on Easter Day in Jerusalem.
The belief that holy objects can fall from the sky is a widespread superstition in the ancient world. According to a Greek legend, before being stolen by Odysseus, a statue (palladion) representing the goddess Pallas protected the city of Troy; it was supposedly thrown to earth by Zeus. [10] In Rome, the shield of the god Mars, discovered by the mythical king Numa Pompilius (7th c. BC), was considered to have divine origin. [11] At Ephesus, the people venerated a statue that “fell from the sky,” representing the goddess Artemis. [12] Towards the end of the 5th century, at Emesa (present-day Homs, Syria), the cult of a solar deity included the veneration of a stone (betyl) that was said to have fallen from the sky. [13] As for pre-Islamic and Islamic Arabia, the black stone of Mecca was said to have been brought by Adam when he descended from Paradise to earth. [14]
[1] M. A. Calogero, Epistle of Christ from Heaven, e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha, https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/epistle-of-christ-from-heaven; J. E. Spittler, Apocryphal Epistles: The Curious Case of the Letter of Jesus Christ That Fell from Heaven, in D. Moessner et al. (ed.), Paul, Christian Textuality, and the Hermeneutics of Late Antiquity: Essays in Honor of Margaret M. Mitchell (Novum Testamentum, Supplements, 190), Leiden, 2023, p. 302-347; E. Timotin, Legenda Duminicii, Bucharest, 2005. CANT refers to Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti.
[2] Patrologia Latina, 72, col. 699-700.
[3] I. Backus, Lettre de Jésus-Christ sur le dimanche, in P. Geoltrain – J.‑D. Kaestli (ed.), Écrits apocryphes chrétiens, vol. 2, Paris, 2005, p. 1101-1119, here 1109. For the Greek versions of the letter, see Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca 812i-812s. Some of the manuscripts place the event not in Rome, but in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or Constantinople.
[4] Ibidem, p. 1118-1119 (§20)
[5] M. Bittner, Der vom Himmel gefallene Brief in seinen morgenländischen Versionen und Rezensionen, in Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 51.1 (1906), p. 11 (version α) ; https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Barb.gr.284, f. 55r.
[6] Bittner, Der vom Himmel gefallene Brief, p. 16 (version α1); Paris, BNF gr. 947, f. 21v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10721847c/f29.item.
[7] Ex 31,18 ; 32,15-16.
[8] Ez 2,8-3,3.
[9] Procopius of Caesarea, The Persian War, §2.12, ed. J. Haury – G. Wirth, Procopii Caesariensis Opera omnia, 1, De Bellis Libri I-IV, Leipzig, 1962, p. 206-207; Evagrius Scholasticus, The Ecclesiastical History, §4.27, trans. M. Whitby (Translated Texts for Historians, 33), Liverpool, 2000, p. 226.
[10] J.-Cl. Carrière – B. Massonie (trans.), La Bibliothèque d’Apollodore, Paris,1991, §3.12.3, p. 107-108 ; Épitomé, §5.10, p. 136, https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1991_edc_443_1.
[11] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, The Roman Antiquities, §2.71, ed. and trans. E. Spelman – E. Cary (Loeb Classical Library, 319), vol. 1, Cambridge (MA), 1937, p. 518-519.
[12] Acts 19,35.
[13] Photios, Bibliothèque, §242 (Damascius, Vie d’Isidore), 203, ed. R. Henry, vol. 6, Paris, 1971, p. 43.
[14] The History of al-Ṭabarī, trans. F. Rosenthal, vol. 1, New York, 1989, p. 297, 303, and 362. On the myth of stones “falling from the sky”, see M. Eliade, Traité d’histoire des religions, Paris, 1964, p. 195-203.
