The Hymn of the Pearl

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The Hymn of the Pearl (also The Hymn of the Soul or The Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle) is a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. In that work, originally written in Syriac, the Apostle Thomas sings the hymn while praying for himself and fellow prisoners. Some scholars believe the hymn antedates the Acts, as it only appears in one Greek translation.

The hymn tells the story of a boy, "the son of the king of kings", who is sent to Egypt to retrieve a pearl from a serpent. During the quest, he is seduced by Egyptians and forgets his origin and his family. However, a letter is sent from the king of kings to remind him of his past. When the boy receives the letter, he remembers his mission, snatches the pearl, and returns.

The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition, that we are lost in a world of matter and do not remember our true origin, but God sends a message, by way of Jesus, to make us remember through gnosis.

Although the Acts of Thomas is a non-canonical text, the Hymn of the Pearl has long been admired by Orthodox Christian thinkers.

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