„Przeklęty jeszcze w matce...” Jedna ze staropolskich wersji biografii Judasza

Abstrakt

The paper presents Judas, the treacherous apostle, of whom the canon Scriptures contain scanty information and quote greed and satanic temptation as the reasons for his guilt. The attention of theologians, thinkers and artists converged on the intriguing figure of Judas as well as on other alleged motives for his action. The Judas plot has been written in for good in the circle of thematic research, and has created in literature its own "thematic series".

Among many various fictional presentations of the profiles of the hero one may distinguish here a characteristic biography of "cursed descendants" whose birth threatens with dangerous consequences. In the works of European and Old Polish writing quoted in the paper and stimulated by, among other things, apocrypha, Judas comes out as "a villain"; his sins, together with incest, inevitably lead him onto the track of offence ended up with the betrayal of Christ and, following it, suicide.