A historical document that cleanses Judas of Jesus? betrayal was held in a Hicksville bank vault for 17 years.

Officials say the "Gospel According to Judas," written nearly 2,000 years ago, was discovered in the Egyptian desert in the 1970s. The document was held in a Hicksville Citibank from 1983 until it was sold to a Zurich-based antiquities dealer in 2000. The English translation, released Thursday, says Jesus told Judas to betray him against his will.

Historians say there is no historical evidence to support the document and that it has no bearing on the Christian faith. A few pages of the gospel are now on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. It will then be returned to Egypt.