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Audiobook edition · 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 36 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 36 pagesAbout this book
At the Last Supper, John asks what lies behind the visible world—and where its darkness begins.
The Questions of John, also known as The Secret Supper, presents a private dialogue between the beloved disciple and Jesus. John asks about Satan’s fall, the shaping of humanity, and the end of time. This anonymous religious text places its hidden teaching at the supper table, apart from the crowd.
According to the text, the visible world belongs to Satan’s kingdom, while the Father’s kingdom is light. Its questions recast creation, suffering, and the coming of Christ through that divide. Scholars connect this work outside the Bible with the Bogomils of Bulgaria and the Cathars of France and Italy.
What you’ll discover
- Questions at the table Follow John’s direct questions as a private conversation opens onto the mysteries behind the world.
- The fall of Satan Explore the text’s account of heavenly glory, rebellion, and the origins of darkness.
- Creation read another way Encounter an unusual retelling that attributes the visible world and human bodies to Satan.
- Two kingdoms in conflict Trace the dialogue’s division between the Father’s light and the shadow of the visible world.
- Questions of final judgment Consider how the text approaches the world’s end, divine judgment, and the return of souls to light.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love early Christian mysteries, medieval religious movements, creation myths and the problem of evil, and anyone curious about what the Cathars cherished.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A private supper conversation shapes the whole book
- Satan begins as a ruler in heaven
- Satan descends through the heavens and spreads his scheme
- The fallen ruler builds the visible world
- The making of human beings and the garden
- Satan's hand shapes law, prophets and baptism
- The end arrives with judgment and a gathered flock
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The Questions of John
by Attributed to John the Apostle · 1150
John leans on the chest of Jesus at supper and asks about Satan, creation and the end of the world.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to readEnglish
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“Lord, before Satan fell, in what glory did he stand before the Father?”
In short
What if, at the last supper, Jesus answered questions that no Gospel records? The Questions of John, also called the Secret Supper, imagines exactly that.
The Questions of John at a glance
- Reading time
- About 25 min20 min fast, 30 min slow
- Length
- 6,260 words8 chapters
- Pages
- 36 pages
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1150by Attributed to John the Apostle
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Listen freeOr hold it in print: paperback, hardcover or large print, at costFrom the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A private supper conversation shapes the whole book
The book opens with a blessing and presents itself as questions asked at a secret supper by John, apostle and evangelist. The subject is the governance of this world, its ruler, and Adam. From the first lines the reader knows this is private teaching, given to one disciple in the quiet of an evening.
John speaks in the first person. He says he was leaning on the breast of Jesus when he asked who would betray him. The answer echoes the Gospel scene. The one who dips his hand in the dish will be entered by Satan. That exchange becomes the hinge of the book, because the name of Satan prompts John to ask what Satan once was.
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Details
- First published
- 1150
- Language
- English
- Listening time
- 56 min
- Level
- Challenging
- Paperback
- 36 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 36 pages · 6 × 9 in
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Cite this edition
John the Apostle. The Questions of John. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-questions-of-john.
John the Apostle. (2026). The questions of John. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-questions-of-john (Original work published ca. 1150)
John the Apostle. The Questions of John. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-questions-of-john.
@book{johntheapostle2026questions,
author = {John the Apostle},
title = {The Questions of John},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-questions-of-john},
note = {First published ca. 1150}
}
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What is the Questions of John about?
It is a dialogue in which John asks Jesus at the last supper about the fall of Satan, the making of the visible world, the origin of human beings, and the judgment at the end of time. Jesus answers each in turn.
What is the Interrogatio Iohannis, also called the Secret Supper?
It is a Latin name for the same text. Interrogatio Iohannis means the questions of John, and Secret Supper refers to its setting, a private teaching given to John during the last supper.
Who wrote the Questions of John and when?
No author is known. The two surviving Latin manuscripts, from Carcassonne and Vienna, date to around the twelfth or thirteenth century and are linked to the Cathars. Many scholars think it draws on older Bogomil and Gnostic material.
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