EXC 264/2: Ontology of Immaterial Causes (TP D-4-1)

Descriptions of heavenly realms and celestial topography can be traced back to the cultural milieu of Second Temple Judaism, which may have been influenced by Platonic and Neo-Platonic concepts. Cosmographic and cosmological ideas were further attested during Late Antiquity in Old and New Testament apocryphal writings and parabiblical compositions, such as the Book of the Secrets of Enoch (or 2 Enoch), Apocalypse of Abraham, Ascension of Isaiah, Third Baruch, Apocalypse of Paul, Apocalypse of the Virgin Mary, etc.), which survive in Slavonic recensions transmitted in the Byzantine Commonwealth. In some cases the Slavonic texts are the only surviving witnesses to the Semitic originals; otherwise they represent faithful reproductions of Greek (Byzantine) redactions.