Few Christian apocryphal texts have been as widely preserved and as influential in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Byzantium as the Apocalypse of Paul. A product of late fourth-century Egypt, this apocalypse is extant in more than a dozen languages, including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic. The text was not only copied in monasteries but also was read aloud in churches throughout the Mediterranean by those who believed it to be the authentic revelation of the apostle Paul. Its impact can be felt in Christian literature across the spectrum, from late Coptic apocrypha to Dante's Inferno. The Apocalypse of Paul's importance as a reflection of the religious atmosphere of Late Antiquity is borne out by this volume, in which no fewer than three other articles refer to it.

This critically important Christian composition contains within it the most spectacular description of the heavenly Jerusalem since the Book of Revelation. At the end of the fourth century, when the Apocalypse of Paul envisions its “City of Christ,” the earthly Jerusalem has been an iconic center of Christendom for several decades. Yet, Constantine's Christian city does not inform this apocalypse's image of the heavenly Jerusalem despite its relative proximity to Egypt.