Wisdom & the Deep Teachings · c. 2nd–3rd century CE
The Hymn of the Pearl
The Hymn of the Pearl is a poem embedded in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas: a prince is sent from the East to Egypt to recover a pearl guarded by a serpent, forgets who he is, and is awakened by a letter from home. Read for centuries as the soul's own story — descent, forgetting, awakening, return — it is among the most beloved poems to survive from the ancient Near East.
Inside the third-century Acts of Thomas, the apostle — imprisoned in India — sings a hymn. The story stops, and something older and stranger unfolds: a king's son leaves his robe of glory behind in the East and travels down into Egypt to win 'the one pearl' from the coils of a devouring serpent. He eats the Egyptians' food, forgets the pearl, forgets his own royalty — until his parents send a letter that rises up as an eagle, becomes speech, and wakes him.
He charms the serpent asleep by naming his father's name, seizes the pearl, and returns east, where his robe of glory comes to meet him 'like a mirror of myself': he sees his whole self in it, receives it, and ascends to the gate of his father's kingdom.
The hymn survives in a single Syriac manuscript and one Greek copy of the Acts — an accident of preservation for a poem that reads like the distilled myth of the soul: sent, clothed in a body ('their garments I put on'), drugged by the world's food, remembered by heaven, and restored. Gnostic readers heard their own doctrine in it; Hans Jonas made it the master-text of the gnostic imagination; yet nothing in it requires any system at all, which is why it has never stopped being read.
The translation below is G.R.S. Mead's public domain version, published as 'The Hymn of the Robe of Glory.' Mead's line divisions are preserved.
When, a quite little child, I was dwelling In the House of my Father’s Kingdom,
And in the wealth and the glories Of my Up-bringers I was delighting,
From the East, our Home, my Parents Forth-sent me with journey-provision.
Indeed from the wealth of our Treasure, They bound up for me a load.
Large was it, yet was it so light That all alone I could bear it.
Gold from the Land of Beth-Ellaya, Silver from Gazak the Great,
Chalcedonies of India, Iris-hued [Opals?] from Kāshan.
They girt me with Adamant [also] That hath power to cut even iron.
My Glorious Robe they took off me Which in their love they had wrought me,
And my Purple Mantle [also] Which was woven to match with my stature.
And with me They [then] made a compact; In my heart wrote it, not to forget it:
"If thou goest down into Egypt, And thence thou bring’st the one Pearl –
"[The Pearl] that lies in the Sea, Hard by the loud-breathing Serpent –
"[Then] shalt Thou put on thy Robe And thy Mantle that goeth upon it,
"And with thy Brother, Our Second, Shalt thou be Heir in our Kingdom."
I left the East and went down With two Couriers [with me];
For the way was hard and dangerous, For I was young to tread it.
I traversed the borders of Maishān, The mart of the Eastern merchants,
And I reached the Land of Babel, And entered the walls of Sarbāg.
Down further I went into Egypt; And from me parted my escorts.
Straightway I went to the Serpent; Near to his lodging I settled,
To take away my Pearl While he should sleep and should slumber.
Lone was I there, yea, all lonely; To my fellow-lodgers a stranger.
However I saw there a noble, From out of the Dawn-land my kinsman,
A young man fair and well favoured, Son of Grandees; he came and he joined me.
I made him my chosen companion, A comrade, for sharing my wares with.
He warned me against the Egyptians, ’Gainst mixing with the unclean ones.
For I had clothed me as they were, That they might not guess I had come
From afar to take off the Pearl, And so rouse the Serpent against me.
But from some occasion or other They learned I was not of their country.
With their wiles they made my acquaintance; Yea, they gave me their victuals to eat.
I forgot that I was a King’s son, And became a slave to their king.
I forgot all concerning the Pearl For which my Parents had sent me;
And from the weight of their victuals I sank down into a deep sleep.
All this that now was befalling, My Parents perceived and were anxious.
It was then proclaimed in our Kingdom, That all should speed to our Gate –
Kings and Chieftains of Parthia, And of the East all the Princes.
And this is the counsel they came to: I should not be left down in Egypt.
And for me they wrote out a Letter; And to it each Noble his Name set:
"From Us – King of Kings, thy Father, And thy Mother, Queen of the Dawn-land,
"And from Our Second, thy Brother – To thee, Son, down in Egypt, Our Greeting!
"Up and arise from thy sleep, Give ear to the words of Our Letter!
"Remember that thou art a King’s son; See whom thou hast served in thy slavedom.
Bethink thyself of the Pearl For which thou didst journey to Egypt.
"Remember thy Glorious Robe, Thy Splendid Mantle remember,
"To put on and wear as adornment, When thy Name may be read in the Book of the Heroes,
"And with Our Successor, thy Brother, Thou mayest be Heir in Our Kingdom."
My Letter was [surely] a Letter The King had sealed up with His Right Hand,
’Gainst the Children of Babel, the wicked, The tyrannical Daimons of Sarbāg.
It flew in the form of the Eagle, Of all the winged tribes the king-bird;
It flew and alighted beside me, And turned into speech altogether.
At its voice and the sound of its winging, I waked and arose from my deep sleep.
Unto me I took it and kissed it; I loosed its seal and I read it.
E’en as it stood in my heart writ, The words of my Letter were written.
I remembered that I was a King’s son, And my rank did long for its nature.
I bethought me again of the Pearl, For which I was sent down to Egypt.
And I began [then] to charm him, The terrible loud-breathing Serpent.
I lulled him to sleep and to slumber, Chanting o’er him the Name of my Father,
The Name of our Second, [my Brother], And [Name] of my Mother, the East-Queen.
And [thereon] I snatched up the Pearl, And turned to the House of my Father.
Their filthy and unclean garments I stripped off and left in their country.
To the way that I came I betook me, To the Light of our Home, to the Dawn-land.
On the road I found [there] before me, My Letter that had aroused me –
As with its voice it had roused me, So now with its light it did lead me –
On fabric of silk, in letter of red [?], With shining appearance before me [?],
Encouraging me with its guidance, With its love it was drawing me onward.
I went forth; through Sarbāg I passed; I left B~ bel-land on my left hand;
And I reached unto Maishan the Great, The meeting-place of the merchants,
That lieth hard by the Sea-shore.
My Glorious Robe that I’d stripped off, And my Mantle with which it was covered,
Down from the Heights of Hyrcania, Thither my Parents did send me,
By the hands of their Treasure-dispensers Who trustworthy were with it trusted.
Without my recalling its fashion, – In the House of my Father my childhood had left it,--
At once, as soon as I saw it, The Glory looked like my own self.
I saw it in all of me, And saw me all in [all of] it, –
That we were twain in distinction, And yet again one in one likeness.
I saw, too, the Treasurers also, Who unto me had down-brought it,
Were twain [and yet] of one likeness; For one Sign of the King was upon them –
Who through them restored me the Glory, The Pledge of my Kingship [?].
The Glorious Robe all-bespangled With sparkling splendour of colours:
With Gold and also with Beryls, Chalcedonies, iris-hued [Opals?],
With Sards of varying colours. To match its grandeur [?], moreover, it had been completed:
With adamantine jewels All of its seams were off-fastened.
[Moreover] the King of Kings’ Image Was depicted entirely all o’er it;
And as with Sapphires above Was it wrought in a motley of colour.
I saw that moreover all o’er it The motions of Gnosis abounding;
I saw it further was making Ready as though for to speak.
I heard the sound of its Music Which it whispered as it descended [?]:
"Behold him the active in deeds! For whom I was reared with my Father;
"I too have felt in myself How that with his works waxed my stature."
And [now] with its Kingly motions Was it pouring itself out towards me,
And made haste in the hands of its Givers, That I might [take and] receive it.
And me, too, my love urged forward To run for to meet it, to take it.
And I stretched myself forth to receive it; With its beauty of colour I decked me,
And my Mantle of sparkling colours I wrapped entirely all o’er me.
I clothed me therewith, and ascended To the Gate of Greeting and Homage.
I bowed my head and did homage To the Glory of Him who had sent it,
Whose commands I [now] had accomplished, And who had, too, done what He’d promised.
[And there] at the Gate of His House-sons I mingled myself with His Princes;
For He had received me with gladness, And I was with Him in His Kingdom;
To whom the whole of His Servants With sweet-sounding voices sing praises.
* * * * *
He had promised that with him to the Court Of the King of Kings I should speed,
And taking with me my Pearl Should with him be seen by our King.
The Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle, which he spake in prison, is ended.
Translation by G.R.S. Mead, from The Hymn of the Robe of Glory (1908), public domain. Source manuscript: Acts of Thomas 108–113; Syriac (British Museum Add. 14645) with one Greek witness (Cod. Vallicellanus B 35). Gaps and brackets reproduce the state of the manuscript — nothing has been smoothed over or invented. Read about our standards on the sources & standards page.
Common questions
What does the pearl symbolize in the Hymn of the Pearl?
The poem never says — that restraint is its power. Ancient and modern readers have taken the pearl as the soul, saving knowledge (gnosis), or the divine spark held captive in the material world (Egypt), with the prince as the self sent to recover it and the robe as the heavenly identity waiting at home.
Where is the Hymn of the Pearl found?
It is embedded in the Acts of Thomas (chapters 108–113), a third-century apocryphal work, and survives in one Syriac and one Greek manuscript. The hymn is likely older than the Acts that carry it; many scholars place its origin in Syriac-speaking Mesopotamia.
Is the Hymn of the Pearl gnostic?
It was long read as the gnostic myth in miniature — the soul's descent, sleep, and rescue — and Hans Jonas treated it as such. But it never mentions a demiurge, aeons, or any system, so some scholars now read it simply as an early Syrian Christian poem of the soul. It fits both frames, which is part of its appeal.
Who translated this version?
G.R.S. Mead (1863–1933), the Theosophical scholar whose translations first brought many gnostic texts to English readers. His 'Hymn of the Robe of Glory' was published in 1908 and is in the public domain.