Luke 22:43-44 and Judeo-Christian Memories

This article discusses the last decade of debates about the evidence of the angel and sweat like drops of blood, in the Gospel according to Luke 22:43–44, on the Mount of Olives, shortly before the arrestation of Jesus. Based notably on the three most ancient witnesses, 0171, P75, and P69, it supports the hypothesis of an early omission resulting from disagreements among Judeo-Christians in Egypt, in the first half of the second century CE. The reception of the figure of a Jesus martyr, strengthened by a silent angel in a fight of prayers, had become a bone of contention: this motive had become embarrassing for Judeo-Christians in the sensitive political context of the Diaspora Revolt (115-117), until it was withdrawn from the text. The memory of the fighting Jesus has then survived in minority circles, as attested in several sources reporting the angel’s words