Mental Perception: A Commentary on Nhc, VI, 4, the Concept of Our Great Power 9004116923, 9789004116924

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MENTAL PERCEPTION

NAGHAMMADI AND

MANICHAEAN STUDIES Editor STEPHEN EMMEL Editorial Board H. w. Attridge, R. Cameron, W.-P. Funk, C. W. Hedrick, H.Jackson, P. Nagel,j. van Oort, D.M. Parrott, B.A. Pearson,j.M. Robinson, K. Rudolph, H.-M. Schenke, W. Sundermann

LI

MENTAL PERCEPTION A COMMENTARY ON NHC VI,4 The Concept if Our Great Power BY

FRANCIS E. WILLIAMS

BRILL LEIDEN . BOSTON· KOLN 2001

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnalune WiIliaDls, Francis E. : Mental perception: a commentary on NHC VI, 4 ; the concept of our great power / by Francis E. Williams. - Leiden ; Boston; Koln: Brill,2001 (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies ; 51) ISBN 90-04-11692-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available

ISSN 0929-2470 ISBN 9004 116923 © Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill NV Laden, 1he Netherlands

All rights reserved. No part if this publication mqy be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval ~stem, or transmitted in a'!)' form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate.fees are paid directly to 1he Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

FOR CHARLOTTE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ..................................................................................

XI

Abbreviations and Short Tides.....................................................

LXV

Policies ...........................................................................................

LIX

Text and Translation .................................................................... . Commentary ................................................................................. Appendix I: Hippolytus, RifUtatio Omnium Haeresium 6.9.3-18.7 (HSim) and 5.9.5-6 (HRef Naas) ....................... Appendix 2: Other Notices of the Simonians and Their Teaching .................. .......................... .......................... .......... Appendix 3: The Authenticity of Hippolytus' Simonian Sources .................................................................................. Appendix 4: HSim as a Simonian Source .................................... Appendix 5: Cherix's (1982) Perception of the Organization of GrP ................................................................................... Appendix 6: Non-Sahidic Linguistic Features of Our "NonChristian" and "Christian Instructions" ............... ............... Appendix 7: Analogs of the Simonian Ennoia in Other Literatures ................................ ............................................. Appendix 8: "Power" or "Great Power" as a Divine Tide .......... Appendix 9: Samaritan Use of the Term, "Our Power" .............

23

203 214 232 243 246 249 251 254 262

Works Consulted ........................................................................... 264 Index of Citations ......................................................................... 273

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I need to thank a number of people who have given me invaluable help in this attempt to break some new ground: Professor HANSl\1ARTIN SCHENKE, who carefully read my manuscript at a preliminary stage and provided important counsel and suggestions. Professor STEPHEN EMMEL, editor of the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Series, for his editorial work on my final version, and his illuminating comments. Professor JAMES M. ROBINSON, who has facilitated my work over the years. Professor SETH WARD, for his advice on Rabbinic matters. My daughter Marge, for her help with electronic issues. And I especially need to thank My wife Charlotte, whose encouragement and support have been very important.

INTRODUCTION The Concept if our Great Power (hereafter GrP) is an instructional work l addressed to a community or congregation by an anonymous author. It contains a markedly apocalyptic salvation history, and its outlook is such that, with certain reservations, it may usefully be termed "Gnostic. " GrP is preserved in only one manuscript, tractate 4 (pages 36-48) of codex 6 of the Nag Hammadi Codices (hereafter NHC). This tractate has plainly been translated into Coptic from Greek. Each of its pages except the last contains between 32 and 35 lines. In the sense that there are few lacunae caused by damage to the papyrus, GrP is in good condition. However, its text is quite corrupt. The work is titled both at its beginning and its end although, as is normally the case in the NHC, the titles do not appear to be the work of the author, but have probably been assigned by scribes. Indeed, it is likely that the two titles of this tractate come from two different scribes. The content

if the tractate)

and the problems

if its interpretation

Our tractate promises salvation to all, "from seven days (of age) to

120 years" (36,11-12) who "know our Great Power" (36,3-4). The history on which this promise of salvation is based begins with the primordials (37,6-29) and proceeds to creation and the Great Power's entry into the material realm and the soul (37,29-38,9). It is then traced through two successive human worlds or phases of the human race, the "fleshly aeon" (38,9-39,15) and the present, "soul-endowed aeon" (39,16-43,2). Later on come the topics which are the chief preoccupation of the tractate's author and interpolators: the troubles which are to precede the End of the universe (43,29-45,24), the fiery End itself (45,24-47,8), and the blessed eternity (47,9-48,15). This last is called the "beautiful aeon" (47,15-16) - though not, it should be noted, the "spiritual aeon." A feature of the "soul-endowed aeon" is the appearance and earthly 1

Cherix (1993) appropriately terms it "un expose didactique," p.4.

XII

INTRODUCTION

ministry of Christ - who is not named but is clearly the person intended (40,24-41,13). His victory over death is especially emphasized, though this is not called a resurrection (41,13-42,19). Included in the troubles which are to precede the End is the grim career of the Antichrist (44,31-45,24). GrP thus tells a coherent story, and at first sight appears to be a work of Christian Gnostic apocalyptic. However, the problems the tractate presents are formidable. The first of these is the condition of the text which, as it stands, often contains impossible readings. What is to be made, for example, of such apparently meaningless sentences as "Know how what is past came to be, that you may know what lives to become" (36,27-31), or, "This is the event that took place; see what it is like, for before it happened it does not see" (38,9-l2)? There are a number of comparable problems in the text, sometimes caused by the corruption of the Coptic and sometimes by the corruption, or the translator's misunderstanding, of the Greek which underlies the Coptic. It is often difficult to be sure who is addressing the congregation or reader. While the instruction normally proceeds in the third person, the thread of the third person narrative is interrupted 16 times by pronouncements in the first person singular, the author of which is never identified. The confusion is compounded by occasional addresses in the second person plural; whether these are directed to the readers or to others is never entirely clear. The dramatis personae of the tractate are not always easy to identify. Who, for instance, is the "Mother of the flame" at 40,1 o? Is she an otherwise unknown figure of Gnostic mythology, a metaphor, a textual corruption - or, as we believe, a parody of the Simonian fallen "Ennoia," deliberately misnamed in order to degrade her? Is the "father of the flesh" (38,19-20), who sends the Flood, actually "the water," as 38,19-21 appears to say? If he is, did water build the ark (38,29-30)? In the same paragraph, who is it that preaches "piety" for" 120 years" (38,26-28)" - the water, Noah (as we would expect) or someone else? Here as elsewhere, the interpreter must look carefully for the antecedents of pronouns. Viewed as a whole, GrP seems to be strung together from materials of disparate character and diverse origins. 2 One may well ask whether such figures as the Antichrist and his fore-runners belong in the same narrative as the unusual scheme of the three aeons and 2

Cf. Fischer, p. 170: Rudo1ph, Gnosis, p. 200.

INTRODUCTION

XIII

the rather subtle doctrine of knowledge of the Great Power (see p. XXIV). While the tractate contains much Christian material, this seems not to accord well with the teachings of the work overall. If there is any connection between Christ's deeds and the salvation of all who know the Great Power, this is certainly not made clear. Close reading reveals a number of internal contradictions, including two essentially incompatible descriptions of the final beatitude (42,23-31 contrasted with 47,9-26). GrP, then, stands in need, not only of textual revision but of literary analysis. As an approach to the solution of these problems we shall offer the following proposals: 1. GrP is not a unity, but composite. It may best be understood as consisting of a non-Christian Grundschrijl, probably the work of Greekspeaking Samaritan or Jewish Gnostics, into which considerable Christian material has been inserted. The Grundschrijl is to be found at 36,1-40,23; 43,3-11; 44,11-13; 45,27-48,15. We shall call these passages the "Non-Christian Instruction." Though their background appears to be Semitic and they have points of contact with Samaritan literature, they also show the influence of Greek philosophy, particularly the Stoic tradition. 2. To this Non-Christian Instruction there have apparently been added two Christian homilies or parts of them. One, found at 40,2443,2 and 43,29-44,10, concerns Christ's earthly ministry and his victory over death, and the aftermath of these things. The second, found at 44,31-45,27, concerns the Antichrist. We shall call these passages the "Christian Instruction." Though the Christian scribe or scribes who added these materials to the Grundschrijl would have been Gnostic, and would have agreed, in essence, with the teaching of the NonChristian Instruction, they may not entirely have understood it. 3. The length of both instructions has been increased by glosses and longer additions. Notable among these is a Christological passage, or a series of such passages (43,13-29) emphasizing the preexistence of Christ. The most important addition of all - and probably the last of all - is a paragraph concerning the activities of an antiChristian "archon of the west" (44,13-31). These lines appear to refer to the emperor 'Julian the Apostate," and - if our identification is correct - serve to date the final redaction of GrP. 4. Concerning the Non-Christian Instruction the following observations may be made: a. It often quotes from an earlier, oracular document in which the

XIV

INTRODUCTION

Great Power himself is the speaker. This seems to be the best explanation of the first person pronouncements which appear without warning in our document. We shall call these pronouncements "words of the Great Power." b. Though the Non-Christian Instruction says nothing of Simon Magus or Simonianism, it may be a late, revisionist product of the Simonian school. Some of its more important teachings resemble those which are to be found in book 6, chapters 9-18 ofHippolytus,3 Rqutatio Omnium Haeresium. 0Ne shall hereafter call Hippolytus' Rqutatio as a whole HRef but its chapters 6.9.3-6.18.7, HSim.) In these latter passages Hippolytus reproduces a source which he believes to be Simonian. 4 Since the teachings of GrP and HSim are similar at important points, while at the same time there is no literary relationship between the two, we assume that they are products of the same school. Both can be read as revisions, independently made, of a more traditional Simonianism. c. The attitude toward sex of the Non-Christian Instruction is encratic. This constitutes its author's chief objection to the school against whose teachings he was in rebellion. 5 d. Whether or not it is Simonian, the Non-Christian Instruction was written for persons who were in conflict with another branch of their school (48,4-8 and other passages). The considerable resentment they felt against this other group would presumably have been reciprocated. 3 We use the name "Hippolytus" without prejudice to the question, forcefully reopened in 1947 by Pierre Nautin, whether Hippolytus actually wrote the RifUtatio Omnium Haeresium. Whoever may have been the author of this work, he lived in thirdcentury Rome and was contemporary with Callistus, who died in 222 C.E. (see HRef 9.11.4 in particular, and chapters 7, II and 12 of Book 9). However, for a strong statement of the case for the Hippolytean authorship of the Rifutatio, see Markovich pp. 10-17. 4 Josef Frickel, in his 1968 monograph, has argued convincingly that Hippolytus Rifutatio 6.9.3-6.18.7 is not Hippolytus' own condensation and description of a Simonian document entitled the Apophasis Megale, but is instead a transcription, almost word for word, of a Simonian paraphrase of or commentary on this Apophasis. Frickel bases his argument on various considerations internal to RifUtatio 6.9-18, but first and foremost on his observation that Hippolytus, as can be seen from the content of his Epitome (RifUtatio book 10) and his handling of Irenaeus on the Marcosians (HRef 6.39-54), does not condense or paraphrase sources, but reproduces them almost verbatim, and nearly in toto. Frickel's view is seconded by Barbara Aland in her "Die Apophasis Megale und die simonianische Gnosis," 1973. 5 The Christian Instruction does not deal explicitly with this subject; those who contributed to it would presumably have agreed with the viewpoint of the document to which they were adding their work.

INTRODUCTION

xv

Evidence in support of these proposals will be presented in the rest of our Introduction, and in the course of our Commentary. It would be rash to maintain that our solutions cannot be challenged, and we shall comment, as we proceed, on other interpretations which have been proposed. What we ofTer, we believe, accounts for the data in a coherent and consistent manner. Our comparison of GrP with HSim will raise once more the vexed questions, whether HSim is an actual Gnostic source or a forgery, and whether, if it is indeed an ancient source, it is actually Simonian. These matters will be discussed in Appendices 3 and 4.

Previous studies

if the tractate

Though few studies have concerned themselves exclusively with GrP, the tractate has been edited and translated no less than four times. The editio princeps was issued in 1971 by Martin Krause and Pahor Labib, in their Gnostische und hennetische Schriflen aus Codex 11 und Codex VI Krause established the text and provided a German translation and a few notes. This volume was intended rather to make the two codices available for scholarly research than to analyze the tractates it contained. There is thus little commentary on GrP; there is, however, a valuable description, tractate by tractate, of the Coptic of Codices II and VI, which facilitates a comparison of GrP's language with that of its fellow codices. Krause provided some discussion of GrP at a later date, in his article in the 1983 collection of studies of apocalyptic which was edited by David Hellholm. A second German version followed in 1973 by K.-M. Fischer, acting as Fedeifiihrer for the Berliner Arbeitskreis fur koptisch-gnostische Schriften (hereafter BA). Though Fischer published only his translation, he made a number of suggestions for the emendation of the text. In an attempt to explain the tractate and account for its content and organization, he divided it into paragraphs with subject headings. Fischer's work is thus the earliest analysis of our document. Like the BA after him, Fischer characterized GrP as a series of fragments rather than as a complete work. Indeed, he appeared to consider it unfinished: "Die Schrift ist offfensichtlich kein in sich geschlossener Traktat .... Wir haben den Eindruck, als seien einzelne Complexe - zum Teil recht verschiedener Herkunft - nur aneinander gefugt worden .... Man kann ein wenig in die geistige Werkstatt gnostischer Adaption anderer Gedanken sehen, denn einige Stucke liegen

XVI

INTRODUCTION

in nahezu rohem, unbehauenen Zustand vor.,,6 Though it is certainly possible to understand the tractate in such a way, one wonders why a Gnostic or any other editor would have chosen to publish a work which he knew to be unfinished and incoherent. Another edition of the text, this one accompanied by an Introduction, notes and an English translation, was published in 1979 by Frederik Wisse and myself in Nag Hammadi Codices V,2-5 and VI. The text was established and the translation made by Wisse. I composed the introduction, and both of us furnished notes. As was the case with the editio princeps, our intention was primarily to make the work available, as it stood, to English-speaking scholars. Thus the notes primarily concern translation choices and points of grammar and syntax, or call attention to obvious parallels in other literature. However, Wisse suggested in one of his notes 7 that GrP is composite, thus making explicit the suggestion which was implied in Fischer's description of it. At that early stage of the interpretation of the tractate, my Introduction confined itself to a description of it and the enumeration of some of its principal problems, and merely seconded Wisse's suggestion that a literary analysis was needed. The encyclopedia articles written somewhat later by Goehring, Howard and Scopello represent a comparable stage of interpretation. Goehring and Howard also emphasized the need for literary analysis; Scopello appeared to see GrP as a coherent whole. If this was her intention she shared the viewpoint of the tractate's fourth translator, Pierre Cherix. Cherix issued his edition of the text with a French translation, an introduction and a number of notes in 1982; to this work HallS-Martin Schenke, in his 1985 review, offered various annotations. 8 A somewhat revised edition of the text, this time without translation or notes, was published by Cherix in 1993, in his Concordance des textes de Nag Hammadi: Le codex VI. Cherix's 1982 volume includes an analysis, more detailed than Krause's, of GrP's somewhat unusual Coptic, an invaluable tool for the study of the tractate. It also offers an interpretation, more extensive than that which was given by Fischer, of GrP's content and meaning. The conclusion reached by Cherix is the diametrical opposite of Fischer's: GrP is the finished work of one author, is "toute 6

Fischer, p. 170 Wisse-Williams, p. 298 Enchoria 13 (1985), pp. 233-242

INTRODUCTION

XVII

a faite

coherent,,,g and reveals a neat, regular outline. We defer to Appendix 5 our comments on Cherix's scheme and the difficulties we find with it. We would agree with Cherix that, as it stands, GrP tells a continuous and coherent story; we would object, however, that the elements of this story do not hang well together and reveal various inconsistencies, and that the tidiness of outline which Cherix found in the tractate is largely illusory. That these four translations differ fundamentally at important points is an indication of our tractate's difficulty and obscurity. The version - yet a fifth! - which we offer here diverges in many ways from the previous four but is indebted to all of them. At appropriate points we shall discuss the earlier translators' renderings. We shall also proceed further than some earlier editors with the reconstruction of GrP's text. Though both Cherix and Fischer attempted to fill the longer lacunae, only Fischer offered a large number of suggestions for textual emendation; 10 the other commentators refrained from making any but the more obvious proposals, perhaps to avoid narrowing the choices available to future investigators. At this stage, however, a closer scrutiny of the tractate's text seems desirable. The only commentary so far to have been published without an accompanying translation is the BA's brief but incisive treatment in Tr6ger, Gnosis und Neues Testament (1973). It takes a position similar to Fischer's, but one rather more extreme. GrP is seen as a series of fragments, difficult to interpret because much that would assist in their explanation is missing from the work. As originally written, the tractate told of three ages of the world, a fleshly, a soulish and a spiritual, with a different manifestation of the Great Power in each. (These, in order, are Noah,Jesus and some person unidentified). Balancing these saviors there was in each age a corresponding manifestation of the "antimeimon pneuma." Each successive age was brought to an end by some such catastrophe as fire or flood. While this reconstruction is intriguing, not to say "heady," little of it, by the BA's own admission, is to be found in the text of GrP. (Notably, if there was a "spiritual age," this has vanished in toto!) Though it is difficult to interpret our tractate without a certain amount

Cherix 1983, p. 4 Though Fischer did not publish his text, his emendations are marked by pointed brackets in his translation. 9

10

XVIII

INTRODUCTION

of "reading between the lines," the BA seems to have departed unacceptably far from the data. 11 A 1980 paper devoted to GrP12 was presented by YvonneJanssens, who attempted to identify the first person speaker in GrP and at the same time shed light on the title, nNOHM~ NTNN06 N60M. She saw the NOHM~ itself as an hypostatized mediator between the Great Power and humanity, analogous to the divine Logos of other traditions. This matter will be discussed more fully under the head of "The First Person Speaker" (p. xxxv). Most commonly, our document has been treated as part of some more comprehensive discussion. Hans-Martin Schenke, in his 1987 article, "Gnosis: Zum Forschungsstand," drew attention to possible points of contact between GrP and the Simonian school. Schenke, however, saw GrP 44,10-29 as anti-Simonian polemic; we are inclined to find a more positive relationship between GrP and Simonianism. Carsten Colpe (1972) and Kurt Rudolph (Gnosis, 2nd ed., 1980, trans. 1984) both dealt with GrP - Colpe in connection with the other tractates ofNHC VI, Rudolph as part of the entire spectrum of Gnostic literature. Both saw the document as an apocalypse. Like Fischer and the BA, Rudolph believed it to be fragmentary. Like Schenke, he too saw a possible connection between our tractate and the Simonian movement,13 though he did not emphasize this point or follow it through. Most other discussions of GrP have dealt with it in connection with discussions of apocalyptic. The tractate was first compared with the other apocalyptic works of the NHC by Francis Fallon (Semeia 14 [1979], pp. 144-145); Fal10n saw our document not as an "apocalypse" but as an "apocalyptic discourse" (see below, p. XXXVII). In David Hellholm's Apocalyptic (1983), Krause called it one of the "Schriften, die nicht den Titel Apokalypsen tragen, aber Apokalypsen sind" (p. 632). In the same volume MacRae termed it a "work of apocalyptic eschatology (p. 222)" rather than an apocalypse, and Kippenberg discussed it as "Apokalyptik" without closer specification (p. 752). 11 There is, however, precedent for an apocalyptic schema featuring the three catastrophes of flood, fire and the End. 2 Pet 3:5-7 might be so interpreted, and Pearson and others see it in the Apocalypse if Adam; for this, and other examples of this scheme, see Pearson, "Problem," pp. 27-28. MacRae ("Apocalyptic Eschatology" p. 323) applies it to GrP. However, in GrP the fire marks the End of the entire universe, not the beginning of another age on earth. 12 Janssens, "Concept," published in 1985 13 Rudolph, Gnosis, pp. 297-298

INTRODUCTION

XIX

Important to GrP's precise classification in modern terms, is the question whether its author meant it to be understood as the words of a supernatural teacher, or simply as an exposition by a human instructor. We reserve the discussion of this to the sections, "The identity of the first-person speaker," and "The identity of the third-person narrator" p. xxxv. Gero in Hedrick-Hodgson (1986) and Wisse in Vigiliae Christianae (1971) have touched on GrP in other connections. Gera seconds Wisse's suggestion that a reference to the Anomoean heresy is likely at GrP 40,7-9. He finds this likely, since the Anomoean leader Aetius is known to have opposed Gnostics, and to have debated both with a Borborite and with a Manichaean. 14 Wisse mentions GrP with reference to the classification of NHC tractates. Unlike Schenke and Rudolph, he finds nothing Simonian about GrP; it has been produced by one of those groups which "defy any kind of classification in terms of sects described by the opponents of Gnosticism." 15 Helderman deals briefly with GrP in connection with its use of the term .\.N.\.n.\.YCIC. He finds this compatible with the usage of the term in the Gospel if Truth, and in other tractates of the NHC.16

The titles

if the tractate

Our tractate has a title subscribed, nNOHH.\. NTNN06 N60H, and one superscribed, T6C-9-HCIC NAI.\.NOI.\. nNOHH.\. NTN.\.6 N6'\'H. Though obvious variants of the same phrase, the two titles differ sufficiently to be the work of two different scribes. We may defer a fuller discussion of these differences, but must now take up the key phrase common to both, nNOHH.\. NTNN06 N60H (or NTN.\.6 N6.\.H). In published works, the translation of this phrase has become standardized as "The Concept of our Great Power" (or its equivalent) in English and French, and Der Gedanke unserer grossen Krqft in German. We shall suggest, however, that what the scribes meant by this phrase was more like "the apprehension of our Great Power." Our discussion of GrP's title must be subdivided into three topics: (1) the meaning of the noun, NOHH.\.; (2) the identity and nature of the Great Power; and (3) The special meaning of "our Great Power. Gero, p. 296. See, however, our p. 98. Wisse, p. 209. But if GrP can successfully be linked with the Simonian movement, this judgment must be modified. 16 Helderman, Anapausis, p.303 14 15

xx

1. The meaning

INTRODUCTION

if NOHHA

This noun has been borrowed from Greek. In this language it has a wide range of meanings including such diverse shades as "mind, thought, purpose, plan, conception, idea, concept" - and also, most usefully for our purposes, the two nuances "understanding," and either physical or mental "perception." We should note, however, that the word seems never, or almost never, to mean "knowledge." "The Knowledge of our Great Power," however superficially attractive a suggestion, is not a permissible rendering of our tractate's title. 17 Neither "concept" nor Gedanke seems adequately to render NOHH.\. as the word is used in the two titles. The former would have to mean, "The way in which we conceive of the Great Power," and the latter, either "The way in which we think of the Great Power" or "What the Great Power thinks." But none of these, surely, gives any idea of the tractate's content. GrP's chief concern is to promote the knowledge if our Great Power, and of the data which this entails (cf. 36,34; 36,27-37,5).The knowledge the author hopes to convey is to some degree experiential, and the word COYWN in the tractate's opening line, n6TN.\.COYWN TNN06 N60H N.\.U}wn6 *N.\.20P.\.TON*,18 surely renders the Greek verb, YLvwaxELv, "know (by experience)." Thus even though we may not translate NOHH.\. as "knowledge," the word should have something to do with mental experience. Such an interpretation of NOHH.\. is rendered even more likely both by our tractate's fondness for the verb N061 and by the wording of the superscribed title, which seems intended to explain the subscription. N061, which transliterates the Greek VOELV, seems to mean "perceive" or "understand" three times in the Non-Christian Instruction, 19 and "understand" (or "know") twice in the Christian Instruction. 20 17 The noun may just possibly mean "knowledge" as it is quoted, with an explanatory expansion, by Plato (Meno 95E-96A) from Theognis (Elegies Il. 434-438). The lines in Theognis read EL ll' ~v nmr)1:ov, xUL Ev8E"tOV avllQL voruta no"t' av e~ ayu80v nmQo~ eYEv"tO xuxo~, nEL80I-tEVO~ I-tv8mm OaLQOOW ana llLllaox{J)v oti no"tE noL1'lOEL~ "tOY xuxov avllQ' ayu8ov. But however Plato may have understood him, Theognis does not seem to mean "knowledge" by V0-IWU. Cf. J. M. A. Grube's rendering, "If this could be done, and intelligence could be instilled." W. M. R. Lamb renders the word as "understandmg." 18 For the textual problem involving the word ~20P~ TON see p. 28. 19 36,31; 37,6; 37,22-23. At 39,6 it means "intend." 20 42,25; 42,29

ov

INTRODUCTION

XXI

And in the superscription of the tractate, the term NOHM"- which appears in the subscription has been placed in apposition with T6C-9-HCIC NAI"-NOI"-, "mental perception."21 By NOHM"-, then, our tractate appears to mean a mental understanding or awareness, of which "our Great Power" is the object. Since we may not render NOHM"- as "knowledge" we seek another term which means perception with the mind and suggest "The Apprehension of Our Great Power" - or, alternatively, "The Understanding of our Great Power" - as a rendering of the key phrase in GrP's titles. 22

2. The identifY and nature

if our I the

Great Power

As it is found in our tractate, Great Power appears to be a divine title. This is suggested by its regular and exclusive use in lines which seem clearly intended as references to God,23 and especially by the prayer, "Have mercy upon us, 0 Power that art above all powers," which at 47,33-34 is addressed to the Power as to a personal being. (We may note here that the titles "the Great Power," and "the Power" are synonyms.) The Power is always specified by the definite article - like the Christian 6 8£0£ - or with the pronoun "our." GrP never calls him "a power" - as Plotinus, for example, sometimes calls the highest being (see p. 259). This latter usage would tend to relativize the Great Power as one power among many - a far cry from the non-Christian author's intent. True, there are other "powers" in GrP. There is a "second Power" (see p. 181) and at times "powers"are mentioned in the plural (47,11-12; 47,33-34). But the second Power is the Great Power's creature (rather than an emanation; see p. 66). And while the "powers" with which the Great Power is compared have no clear referent, the phrase, "Power above all powers," which is found twice on the tractate's page 47, seems simply a superlative. 24 The Great Power combines the traits of the impersonal supreme being of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy with those of the Samari21

gests,

This renders either the Greek

it

it

a'La8T]OL~ tli~ (havoia~ or, as Cherix sug-

LavOLu) Perception (a'L(Jell(JL~), (or) the Apprehension (VOllIlU) of the Great Power B. Introduction 36,3-37,5 1. ProD1ises and warnings 36,3-27 Whoso will know our Great I Power *will become invisible* (aoQu'tOV)1 5 and fire will not I be able to consume him, but it will I purge away and destroy I every possession (or: constraint) of yours (pI.). For, I "Everyone in whom my form (lloQ~) 10 will appear will I be preserved, from seven days (of age) I to 120 years," I (those) upon whom are these necessities: that they I All and 15 the writings of our Great Power, !that I it may write your (masc. sing.) name I in our great light, and their I purposes (btLVOLU) and works I may be brought to fulfillmentl 20 so that they may be made pure. , 2 scattered and I destroyed, and they (i.e., the defiled) will be gathered in I the place ('to:rto~) which *no one*3 I who is in it sees. "But you 25 will see me" and I prepare your dwellingplaces

I in

(or: through) our Great Power.

2. Invitation to saving knowledge 36,27-37,5 Know I how (:rt(j)~) the past I arose, that you may 30 know the person who lives (only) to take his I place . For how (:rt(j)~) (else) understand (VOELV) I what that aeon I is like, or (~) (37,1) what sort it is, or (~) how [it will] I come to be? [Why] I do you not ask [how] I you (pI.) will become it'5 (or), rather, [how] you (pI.) have become (it)?

I L\N~19wn6 fi~20P~TON may translate a corrupt Greek reading.

We here conjecturally fill what may have been a lacuna in the codex. The Greek may have read oub' 0 mv fv aUL.).n I NTC')'P,),2, .).L/BWA

0

.).1>WB N 1S OYWT NT6')'M W26P')' Tovi]); I unseemly deeds (aL a'LwvL. 36,31 b-33afor how (else) understand what that aeon is like. The Gnostic can picture the final aeon by knowing the admirable persons who are now in "the changeless aeon" (48,12-13). NPN061 at l. 31 seems a plausible restoration, and avoids the problems of idiom and interpretation which an unemended reading of these lines entails (see below). 30 For n€TON2 (Tuta etc. 69

OLUVOTJtLX~V,

70

We here disagree with Wisse's note at his pp. 298-299.

66

COMMENTARY

38,3-5 From (all qf) these (phenomena) the fire has been generated~. That is, fire is generated as the last stage of that whole process of origination which was set off by the movement of the pneumata and waters. The Greek original may have read OefV ~ referring to all that has gone before ~ xu't 'to nUQ YEYOVf (or, YEYEvTj1;m). This fire is the fire of everyday, which consumes rather than creating and will one day consume the world. In Stoic terms such fire is the nUQ a'tfXvov, the "non-constructive fire;" cf. Stob. Ecl. I 25,3 p. 13 15 W (SVF, vol. 1, 120, p. 34): "For (Zeno says that) there are two kinds of fire, the kind which is non-constructive and converts its fuel into itself, and the constructive kind which is responsible for growth and increase" etc.7 1 In Stoic physics the non-constructive fire is the end product of the development of material things: (Stob. Eel. I 17,3 SVF, vol. 1, 102, p. 28): "In the nature of things there will need periodically to be such a reconstitution of the whole whenever there is the change of fire, through air, to water. Some (of the water) must settle and be compacted as earth, but of the rest, some must remain water, but air must be formed from the vaporizing water, and fire kindled from some of the air."72 The constructive fire which begins the world's development, and the non-constructive fire which ends it prior to its renewal, are thus essentially the same thing, and arise out of each other. Similarly in GrP the Great Power ~ the fire which sets off the creation process, and the Second Power ~ the fire which eventually destroys the universe, are akin, with the first initiating the process which eventually produces the second. They are not, however, on the same level of being since, unlike the Great Power, the Second Power originates in the world, physically, and will disappear when its fuel is exhausted (46,2933).

71 ()VO YUQ YEVl] JtuQo~, to [!£v atEXVov xat [!Eta~ciA.AOV Et~ EaUto ti]v tQo pregnancy with the man or mind, whenever she grows angry and is impelled by the impulse of the wind" etc.

72

COMMENTARY

Those who opt for an explanation like Fischer's will tend to agree with his judgment that GrP is a poorly integrated work in which "einige Stucke liegen in nahezu rohem, beinahe unbehauenen Zustand vor" (p. 170).

E. The fleshly aeon 38,9-39,15 GrP 38,9-39,15 contain our author's version of the accounts of the giants and the Flood which are found in Gen 6-8. GrP follows these chapters closely; however, there is some conflation, and certain details have been condensed. The author appears to believe that the entire generation of the Flood were giants, and to identify the wickedness of this generation as sexual intercourse. The interpretation of the passage is rendered difficult by the author's failure always to specify the subjects of the sentences. But aside from the variations we have just noted, there is no reason to suppose that he is not telling the usual version of the story. 38,9-16

n~'j ne 10 n2WR eT~2U)wne N~Y xe oy~U) MHINe ne . xe Mln~TeLjU)wne *LjN~Y ~N* eRO,," I xe N~LjU)wn6 N61 n~IWN I NTC~P~"::i, 2N NN06 NCWH~ . 15 ~yw NeU)~ywn epooy NI26NN06 N200Y 2N TKTICIC .

This is la the event that took place. See I what it is like, for I before it happened *it does not see*, for the fleshly aeon I was born with gigantic bodies, 15 and they were allotted I long lives in the creation. 38,9-11 This is the event that took place. See what it was like. The "event"

is the birth of the giants, as will be specified at 11. 13-14 below. Attention is called to it because of its strangeness. The Greek original may have been TOUtO bE to EQYOV to YEv6~EVOV' oQa OJtOLOV ~v, with oQa used in the sense of "observe, realize." Alternatively, 11.9-11 might be taken, with Krause and Fischer, as referring to the creation which has been described at 37,29-38,9. So Fischer: "Das ist das Werk das entstanden ist. Schaut, von welcher Art es ist, dass vor seiner Entstehung er (der Aeon?) nicht sieht." If the passage be so interpreted the discussion of the fleshly aeon begins only with eRO,," at 38,12. At that point Fischer begins a new sentence: "Weil der Aon des Fleisches aus den Riesenleibern bestand" etc. However, this seems an abrupt opening for the description of the fleshly aeon. In any case the imperative N~y at 38,10 serves to

73 introduce a new topic of discussion, like the imperatives, ."lI.PIN061 at 37,6 and 6N."lI.Y at 37,24. 38,12-13 For bifOre it happened *it does not see*. The reading of the Coptic text here is impossible, but the author surely intends to say that the birth of the giants was an unheard of event. The Coptic translator may have been faced with a corrupt Greek text. If the non-Christian author originally wrote 6n JtQL v 'to 'tolno YEvEo8m, OUX EWQa1:O, 6'tl 0 d[wv 't~e; oaQxoe; EYEVE1:O EV !lEyaAme; OW!lamv - "before this took place it had not been seen, since the aeon of the flesh was born with gigantic bodies" - OUX EWQa1:O could have been corrupted to, or misread as OUX OQTPYH) and (mis)behavior. The gods and angels, some of whom had intercourse with human women, are responsible for the result of sexual intercourse, "the birth of the flesh" (48,7-8); cf. Test. Truth 29,9-30,18, which blames the Law's injunc93 Fischer's treatment of 39,2-6 as a question seems to obscure this point. He renders "Denn hatte es kein Arche gegeben, dass man in sie hineingehen konnte, ware dann etwa das Wasser der Sintflut nicht gekommen?" 94 Cf. the use of o'\l1:o)~ which is found at John 4:6. 95 Fischer's interpretation, "In ebendieser Weise plante und gedachte er (aus dem Endgericht) zu retten" seems off the mark. Surely the passage here is concerned with the Flood. 96 Krause keeps the codex reading and renders "die Krafte, unsere Grosse." But this makes sense only if the speaker is thought to be a mediator between the Power and the world, who is speaking of the powers which are shared by him and his fellow supernaturals. 97 Fischer appears to delete T60H and translates "Die Gotter samt den Engeln, Grosse von diesen alien (verringert er (= der wahre Gott)." "Verringert er" (~l.(6wxLi?) might refer to the punishment of the angels (38,24-25). All this hangs together with his interpretation of 39,10-\3 (see below).

82

COMMENTARY

tion to reproduce sexually on "the errant desire of the angels and demons and stars." Since our author has spoken of "gods" in the same breath with "angels," he may be attributing sexuality to these, as in Hesiod's Theogony. For TpYH in the sense of "wantonness" cf. 46,912, where it is said that the perfected Gnostics have "no one of the flesh holding them, nor wantonness (TPYH) of the fire.,,98 At Ap.John 21,16-25 we learn that the TPYH of the archons - in this case a reference to their diet - is "bitter" and "deception." We supply the article before TPYH to correspond with that before Tponoc; the omission is surely due to haplography in the Coptic. Tponoc means "behavior, way of living;" in this case the association of this word with TpYH shows that behavior of the wrong sort is meant. Since the OT God rescues the wanton gods and angels, he must be held responsible for sexual intercourse. The author's reverence for God, however, leads him to pass very lightly over this matter. Comparably, the Test. Truth passage we have just mentioned takes care to blame the Law rather than God. 39,11-13 By removing them likewise .from the world and maintaining them in lasting habitations. The OT God removes the gods and angels from the air, which the Flood is about to saturate, and places them in heaven, which the water cannot reach. The apparently superfluous "yw before 6LfnWN6 may reflect a Greek xal. .. xai construction. The Greek sentence might have read, in part, xaL !!E'ta'tL8EL~ au'tov~ ana 'tOv alcDvo~ xaL 'tQEWV au'tOu~, "both by removing them from the world and by maintaining them ... " 39,1 2 Maintaining. i.e., seeing to their well being; the underlying Greek verb would have been 'tQEWV. Comparable language is found at Epiph. Pan. 40.7.1-2 where "the power on high came down with the ministering angels of the good God and snatched Seth himself ... and bore him aloft somewhere, and nurtured (aVa8QE'tjJm) him for some time to prevent his being killed." But Epiphanius says ava8QEn'tw rather than 'tQEW because the scene is laid in Seth's childhood and the emphasis is upon his rearing rather than simply upon his maintenance. Somewhat comparable to the "lasting habitations" mentioned here is the "place" which is mentioned at Ap.John 29,7-12, where "not only Noah but also many other people from the immoveable race ... 98 Cherix translates TpyH simply as "pleasure" and renders "ainsi qu les deJices et la specifite (de I'eon)." But this seems vague: what is "la specifite de I'eon"?

83 went into a place" and hid themselves in "a luminous cloud." The element common to our passage and the passage we have quoted from Ap. John is the attempt to account for a population which cannot be accommodated in the ark. See also Apoc. Adam 69,19-23 where "Afterwards (i.e., after the Flood) great angels will come on high clouds who will bring these men into the place where the spirit [of] life dwells." Apoc. Adam, however, tells the usual story of the ark, even including the preservation of the animals. Another interpretation if 39,1 0-13. Fischer emends TPYH, "wantonness," to TP0H, "sustenance," takes nUJN€ at 1. 11 as "change," and 2N N.A.I.\.HONH at 1. 13 to represent (apparently) the Greek phrase EV bLa[!Ov~. This results in the translation "Und die und die Lebensweise (der Menschen) andert er auch in dem Aon und lasst sie fortan am Leben"; this refers to Gen 9: 1-3 where it is said that God, after the Flood, gives the human race permission to eat meat. The verbs €L/nWN€ and €L/C.\.N€qJ, now taken as second present rather than as circumstantial, might be literal translations of a Greek historic present. The two N'S before .A.I.\.HONH - a word which can scarcely be translatedJortan if it is used in the plural - might be explained either as a dittography or as an instance of our scribe's habit of doubling the letter N (see p. 104, n. 141). "Lasst sie am Leben" seems somewhat strained for €L/C.\.N€qJ. Unless some such verb as .\.L/6wxq be supplied, this interpretation leaves the phrases NNOYT€ ... NN.\.'j THPOY dangling without a verb.

39,13-15 And the wqy if the flesh perished; the work if the Power alone stood finn. Everything tainted by the defiling activity of the flesh is swept away, but instead of reverting to chaos the universe itself, which came into being as the result of the Power's advent, remains. .\.n renders a Greek fJ bbtll, here used in the sense of "regular way, manner" of behaving. It is a synonym for 'tQ6Jto~, cf. the use of this latter noun at 1. 10. Thus the "way of the flesh," means the sexual activity of the flesh, which has been swept away by the Flood (as impurity will later be eliminated by the fire of the final conflagration). The gods and angels, however, who are ultimately responsible for this sexual activity, have not been swept away but are still alive, "in a place." This is presumably the reason why "defilement" continues in the next aeon, as will be said at 39,19 below. Other interpretations if 39,13-15. Wisse and the European translators unanimously take 2.\.n here to mean 'judgment," but differ in their renderings of .\.L/RWA. Krause, Fischer and Cherix see this as a refer-

84

COMMENTARY

ence to the end of the Flood (Gen 8: 13); the two latter simply say that the judgment "came to an end" ("harte auf'; "se termine"). Krause, more graphically, opts for "laste sich auf." Wisse's ingenious rendering of .\.C/BWA as "was unleashed" seems wide of the mark, since the Flood began at 38,32-33; at this point in the story the Flood should be over.

F. The soul-endowed aeon 39,16-43,2 To translate the Coptic phrase ntY)CIKoC N.\.IWN we adopt Bethge's and Layton's apt "soul-endowed aeon.,,99 The rendering which has most commonly been given, "psychic aeon," is not in itself meaningful. The "soul-endowed aeon" is the human race after the Flood; this aeon will remain in being until the final conflagration. That "aeon" is a collective noun here is indicated by the fact that the soul-endowed "aeon," singular, "has congress with bodies," plural (39,18); on the noun "aeon" as a collective term, see pp. 73-4. The soul-endowed aeon differs from the fleshly in that the souls with which it is endowed are eligible for eternal life. The length and complexity of our tractate's description of this aeon is due to the amount of Christian material which has been added to it. The description of the soul-endowed aeon which is given here pays no attention to the patriarchs, Moses or the Law. This does not preclude a Samaritan or Jewish background for the Non-Christian Instruction, since, for example, Apoc. Adam, which is generally held to be Jewish in origin, similarly ignores the Law and the heroes of the Jewish past. Even if they were Samaritan or Jewish, the readers of the Non-Christian Instruction were dissident Samaritans or Jews. F. The soul-endowed aeon 39,16-43,2; 1. The defilement of the soul-endowed aeon 39,16-21 TOT6 tNOY ntY)CIKoC NCWH.\. .

I

I N.\.IWN

2WWC/ . 0YKOY6I

n6 6C/TH2 HN

6C/xno 2N NtY)CH 6C/XW2H . 20 X6 nXW2H Nl90pn

NTKTllclC .\.C/6N XIN

Next, the present: Now the soul-endowed I aeon is a small one, I which has congress with bodies I but begets in souls and defIles (them), 99

See, e.g., Bethge's and Layton's rendering of Or. World 115,1 in NHL.

20

for the original defilement of the creation

has gained strength.

TOT6 tNOY is a heading and not part of the sentence which follows; this sentence begins with the word niyxlKoC. The adverb TOT6, which regularly marks transitions in GrP, is in most cases integrated into a sentence and best translated "then"; here, however, since the transition is from one topic to another rather than from one point in time to another, the translation, "next," is preferable. The Greek original of these lines might have been "ton, "ta vvv· 6 bE 'ljJVXLXO~ dLwv ~Qaxv~ (or: IlLXQO~) e(nL. 2WWQ renders a Greek bE; if it has any adversative connotation, this is because the soul-endowed aeon is here contrasted with the aeon which has preceded it. 39,16-17 Soul-endowed aeon. As the name "fleshly aeon" may have been taken from Gen 6:3 where human beings before the Flood are called oaQxa~, so "soul-endowed aeon" may have been taken from Gen 9: 16, where it is said of human beings after the Flood, O'ljJOllm

t'Ov IlvT]oOiivm bLaOrlxT]v alahtov o.va IlfOOV ellOV xaL o.va IlfOOV naoT]~ 1/Jvxij~ ~WOT]~ €v naou oaQxi, "I shall look (on my bow) in order to remember (the) everlasting (alaivLOv) covenant be-

tween me and every living soul in all flesh." The author might have understood the words, "everlasting" and "living," to imply that members of our aeon are eligible for eternal life. 39,17-18 A small one. The term "small" here both describes the soulendowed aeon and passes judgment on it. The soul-endowed aeon is described as "small," either because of the smallness of its members' bodies and the shortness of their lives, or because of its shortness in comparison with the final aeon; in either case the term is one of opprobrium. In NHC the "smallness" of inferior beings is usually meant literally, but also implies their ignorance or materiality. An example is found at Treat. Seth 60,30-32, where the archons are "small (and) ignorant because they do not contain the nobility of the truth"; if they contained the nobility of the truth this would presumably increase both their size and their value. There is a comparable combination of ideas at Dial. Sav. 141,6-11, where Matthew asks, "How does the small join itself to the big?" and the Lord replies, "When you abandon the works which will not be able to follow you, then you will rest." By definition, material human existence and its works are "small," but eternal rest is "big."IOO lOO An amusing instance of this combination of literalness and opprobrium is found at Gos. Phil. 60,10-15, where the "little Wisdom," Echmoth, is smaller-by one letter-than the real "Visdom, Echamoth. "Small," however, is not always a term of

86

COMMENTARY

Where something "small" is contrasted with something "large," the "large" entity need not be explicitly mentioned but may simply be implied. Thus at Tri. Trac. 76,13-16 we find, "This aeon (the Logos) was the last to have brought forth by mutual assistance, and he was small in magnitude;" in other words, the Logos is being compared with the other aeons, but these go unmentioned. So here, whether the soul-endowed aeon is contrasted with giants' bodies and life-spans, or with the greatness of the final aeon, none of these contrasted elements need be mentioned explicitly. 39)18-19 Which has congress (6L(TH2) with bodies but begets (6L(Xno) in souls and difzles (them). The members of the soul-endowed aeon use their bodies for intercourse with other bodies but, paradoxically, beget in their souls; what they beget there will be specified at ll. 21-31. The pointed contrast between 6L(TH2 and 6L(Xno suggests that the Greek verb !lELYVV!lEVO~ (or ~jaXeEi~), the original of the Coptic 6L(TH2, is used here, not to mean simply "mixed," but in its sexual sense. The Greek original may have been !lfLXeEL~ !lEV "tOt:~ (J(D!laOLv YEVVWV ()' EV Lat:~ '4'Uxat:~ ltaL !lOAVva~. All the previous translators have opted for "is mixed with bodies" or the like, as the preferred rendering of 6L(TH2 HN NCWH:\.lOl However, although the thought that the soul was trapped in the body was at home in the ancient Mediterranean world, and our tractate unquestionably regards "the flesh" as a hindrance to salvation (46,811), we nowhere find it said that souls are trapped, imprisoned or buried in bodies, and there is no explanation of the reason for the soul's embodiment .. This fact as such does not appear to trouble either instructor. 39)19 and difzles (them). That NtY)ooQov f:rtLocj>aAE~ uno uoSEvEia~ xaL u~E~mov Exoum.

93

39,21-33 - 39,33-40 ,9 E. The soul-endowed aeon; 3. A call to saving knowledge and chaste behavior 39,33-40,9 6T! T6TNNKOTK .

(40,1)

6T[6lTNn6p6 P,)"Coy . N62C6

TNOYOY2THN6 . NT61TNXI tn6 NT6TNOYWH NI-e-p6 HH6 . HnAoroc 5

HN

HN I NIOYW19~

nHOOY HnWN2 . .)..AWTN /HN NI')"N' 2' OHOION

I

I

t

I

NT~ 6ROA

2N N16m-e-YHI.).. 6-e-00Y

26NHNT26P6CIC 6Y200Y

I

6HNT')"Y P')"TOY/ .

Are you still asleep (40,1) and dreaming? Wake I and return, I and taste and eat I the true food! Dispense the word 5 and the water of life! Cease I from these (or: the) evil lusts and I desires, land these (or: the) disparate things, I wicked heresies I that have no basis!1 Having concluded his diagnosis of this aeon's problem, that is, the catalogue of its sins, the non-Christian author now comes to the solution of the problem, conversion. This passage serves as the peroration of all that has preceded. Rather than reading T6TNNKOTK as an accusation with the translators, "You are still asleep!" we suggest that the author is asking a rhetorical question, "Are you still asleep (after all that you have learned)?" 115 39,33-40,1 Are you still asleep and dreaming? The readers are said to be "asleep," that is, oblivious to the truth, and "dreaming," that is, acting on a false perception of reality. The Greek original may have been E'tL Xa8EV()E1:E EVlJJtVLWV1:EC;; the Coptic circumstantial would render the participle. "Sleep" and "dream" are often employed in the NHC as metaphors for the condition of the unenlightened. Cf. Tri. Trac. 82,25-31, "To what do the former things pertain? They are like forgetfulness and heavy sleep; being like those who dream troubled dreams, to whom sleep comes while they - those who dream - are oppressed." Gos. Truth 28,32-30,9 explores the same idea at greater length: "Thus they were ignorant of the Father, he being the one whom they did not see. Since it was terror and disturbance and instability and doubt and division, there were many illusions at work by means of these, and (there were) empty fictions, as if they were sunk in sleep andfound themselves in disturbing dreams. Either (there is) a place to which they are fleeing, or without strength they come (from) having chased after 115 Krause takes the circumstantial 6T[6]TN n6p6 P.l.coy as causal: "Noch schlaJt ihr, indem ihr traumt," that is, "Since you are dreaming, ( it must be that) you are asleep."

94

COMMENTARY

others, or they are involved in striking blows, or they are receiving blows themselves, or they have fallen from high places, or they take off into the air though they do not even have wings. Again, sometimes (it is as) if people were murdering them, though there is no one even pursuing them, or they themselves are killing their neighbors, for they have been stained with blood. When those who are going through all these things wake up, they see nothing, they who were in the midst of all these disturbances, for they are nothing. Such is the way of those who have cast ignorance aside fiom them like sleep, not esteeming it as anything, nor do they esteem its works as solid things either, but they leave them behind like a dream in the night. The knowledge of the Father they value as the dawn. This is the way each one has acted, as though asleep at the time when he was ignorant." I 16 40,1-2 Wake and return. This refers to what may be called the Gnostic conversion experience. To "wake" is to cast off wrong perceptions and come to a knowledge of the truth; to "return" is to come back to one's true nature. Taken together, the terms are a way of speaking of the Gnostic's coming to self-knowledge. In the "Hymn of the Soul," (Acta Thomae 108-113,James pp. 411-415) the hero who has been sent to "Egypt" (the world), forgets his own identity and falls into a deep sleep (l09.31-35). He then receives a message bidding him "rise and wake out of sleep" (110.43) and directs his way back to his fatherland (111.62£1). In our passage it is the author who bids the readers awaken; in some Gnostic writings this call is put into the mouth of a Revealer. So at Tri. Prot. 35,21-23 Protennoia says, "I walk uprightly, and those who sleep I [waken]. And I am the sight of those who dwell in sleep." 117 Gnostics may be urged to waken others: (Gos. Truth 32,3533,8) "Speak of the truth with those who search for it and (of) knowledge to those who have committed sin in their error. Make firm the foot of those who have stumbled and stretch out your hands to those who are ill. Feed those who are hungry and give repose to those who are weary, and raise up those who wish to rise, and awaken those who sleep." 116 See also Ap.Jas. 9,24-35 "0 you wretches ... Can you still bear to sleep, when it behooved you to be awake from the first, so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you?"as well as Gos. Truth 33,7-8; Ap.John 23,26-31; 31,20-22. For a full discussion of this subject see MacRae, "Sleep" in Bianchi, Origini. The metaphor is by no means confined to Gnostic literature; witness, for example, Rom 13: 11-14; Poim. 27. 117 Cf. further Ap.John 21,14-16; 23,26-32.

95 Similarly, "return" is a term for conversion which is often found in Gnostic writings. Cf. Gos. Truth 36,13-16 "that is why Christ was spoken of in their midst, so that those who were disturbed might receive a bringing back."118 Tri. Trac. 81,17-21 defines the "return" as repentance: "(the wrath) accepts and redeems (them) from their (false) opinion and apostasy, since from it [is] the conversion which is also called 'metanoia. '" 119 40)2-5 And taste and eat the true food! Dispense the word and the water if lift! That "food" and "water" here refer to saving knowledge is suggested by the parallel with A6yo~, "word," in its sense of "message." NHC passages which term knowledge "food" are found at Auth. Teach. 35,11-14, "She (the rational soul) ate of the banquet for which she had hungered. She partook of the immortal food"; Gos. Truth 33,3-5, "Feed those who are hungry and give repose to whose who are weary." At Gos. Phi!. 55, lO-23 we are told that "Christ ... the perfect man ... brought bread from heaven"; this bread is identified as "Truth, which existed from the beginning," and which, once Christ has brought it, "is sown everywhere." Passages in which "water" means life-giving knowledge are found at Poim. 29 and 4 Ezra 14.38-41 (Charlesworth, vo!. 1, pp. 554-555). In the former, "water" is identified with A6yo1J~: E

AE~E'tm

Ev

JtaQa~oAciL£

XljQUGGEL 'tOV a'twva 'tOV !lEAAov'ta.

Then the explanatory lines in prose, 00£ EAEYE 'to NWE EV 'to a'twvL 'to JtQohcp 't~£ aaQxo£. xaL JtEQL 'twv Aoymv cbv EAEYELO· followed by the next strophe, EAEYEV EV Jtamv 'tOL£ AOYOL£ JtEV't~xov'ta Mo ELI!; 'twv UQXOV't'{DV ... EYVWXEV, Et yaQ EYVWXEV, OUX av 'tOY XUQLOV 't111!; C>O~lll!; fo'tuuQwauv, and 1 Pet 1: 12 dl!; a fm8uf.-t0UaLV aYYEAOL rruQuxu'ljJm. In the NHC, archons are regularly "ignorant:" see Treat. Seth 60,30-32 and 69,7-19. At Or. World 119,29 they speak to Adam "ignorandy;" at 120,3-5 their "eyes" are "misty" in the presence of "the Instructor." At Or. World 116,25117,14 they are hoodwinked by Eve. For the translation "what had taken place" cf. Wisse, "what had come to pass." The other translators all take n6Tb..C/U)wn6 as masculine rather than neuter, and as a reference to the victorious Christ. Cherix renders Celui qui est venu a l'existence, Fischer, den Gewordenen, Krause, ihn der entstanden war. But it seems unlikely likely that this author, who believed in a preexistent Christ who could not die, would have termed Christ's conquest of death a coming "into existence." n6 at 1. 13 may be rendered "was," since it represents a Greek fa'tL following a verb in a secondary tense. The sentence might have read, oux Eyvwauv ~£yciAQl AOYQl ~~wv, a scribe's eye might have skipped from the first to to the second. The Coptic translator then found an incomplete sentence in the text that lay before him, and rendered accordingly. The xai in the Greek sentence as it was originally written would have been explicative, a fact which the loss of EOWSl] would have obscured. This verb lacking, the Coptic translator naturally took xai as connective and rendered it with MN. For the use of the noun a:rtEQ~a as "stock" rather than as "seed,"see Lampe 1248a. "Your stock" meant, specifically, "those who desire to follow our great Logos and his preaching" ~that is, they were the ancestors of the Gnostic Christians, who owe their existence to the preservation of Noah and his sons. Since the interpolator believed that Christ had preached through or in Noah, he would have seen no incongruity in the statement that his ancestors in the days of the Flood desired "to follow our great Logos." The reason for the surprising second person singular n6Kcn6pM.\. may be that the interpolator is here reproducing a quotation which he considers relevant, one which he then supplements with his own words, "and those who desire" etc. Elsewhere in the tractate the second

143 person singular is found only at 36,16, which is probably also an interpolation. If it is not a part of a quotation, second person singular here may simply be a mannerism of the interpolator. Our great Logos. Here, and at 44,3 (in the Christian Instruction), the term Logos unmistakably refers to Christ. The phrase, "our great Logos," appears to be imitative of the phrase "our great Power." Also possible is the rendering, "our great proclamation and the preaching of it." 199 However, since "follow" suggests the personal following of a leader, a meaning such as "our great Logos and his preaching" seems more likely.

[The Christian Instruction proper now resumes at 43,29]

H. The troubles which are to precede the End

43,29-

45,27

43,29-45,27 describe events which, in other apocalyptic works, are sometimes called the Tribulation (cf. the use of 8Ahlnc; at Mark 13:24 and Matt 24:21), a series of catastrophes which occur near the end of time and give warning of the approaching End proper. In GrP as we now have there are three episodes in this series of catastrophes: (1) The archons' war of revenge 43,29-44,10; (2) the career of "the archon of the west" 44,13-31; and (3) the arrival of the Antichrist and his reign 44,31-45,24. The first and third of these are the work of the Christian instructor, while the second is an interpolation by the last redactor of the tractate.

H. The troubles which are to precede the End; I. The archons' war of revenge 43,29-44,10 TOT6 .\.TRAK6 NN'\'P30 ;XWN X6pO . '\'YXI li}tn6 612P.\."j 6XN nOYRW,\. 6RO,\. . I .\.yw .\.yOYWli}6 .\.YRW,\.K I 6nwN2 . .\.NnO,\.IC li}OpP I .\.NTOOY RW,\. 6RO,\. . .\.C/61 35 62P.\."j N61 n.\.p;XWN MN N (44,1).\.px.WN NNM'\' N2wTn li}.\. I T.\.N.\.TO,\.H . X6 nTonoc 6THIM.\.Y 6T.\.n,\.oroc OYWN2 I 6RO,\. N2HTq Nli}opn . TOT6 5 .\.nK.\.2 KIM . .\.yw .\.NnO,\.IC I li}TOpTP . TOT6 .\.N2.\.,\..\.T6 I OYWM . .\.yw .\.YC6\ 6RO,\. I 2N Noyn6TMOOYT . .\.nK.\.2 I p-n6N-9€1 MN TOIKOYM6NH 10 .\. YPX.\.61 .

Then the wrath of the archons 199

Wisse renders

TM9E OEIl!)

30

burned. They were ashamed of

with "proclamation" here.

I

144

COMMENTARY

their destruction and were consumed (with rage) and furious I with the Life. The cities were overthrown. I The mountains dissolved. The 35 archon came up, with the (44,1) archons of the west, to I the east, that place (or: for it is that place) I in which the Logos first I appeared. Then 5 the earth trembled and the cities I were troubled; then the birds I ate and were gorged I with their dead. The earth I mourned, and the inhabited world, 10 and they were desolate. Having failed to overcome Christ, the archons, from spite, attempt, by war, to destroy his place of origin. Their malice extends to the destruction of as much of the world as possible. Fischer heads these lines "Eschatologische Drangsal nach dem Bild des judischen Krieges." The war here described is either a generalized reminiscence of the events of 69-70 C. E., or a prophecy modeled on these events. Archons take the place of human actors, as was the case in the Passion narrative. 70 C.E. saw the destruction of Jerusalem in the east; in the west, 69 C.E. was the "year of the four emperors." During this year Italy was three times invaded, from the north by the usurper Vitellius, and from the east by Vespasian's allies Antonius Primus and Caius Licinius Mucianus. Cremona was destroyed, Rome itself saw bloody fighting and the burning of the Capitol, and there was fighting on the Rhine. The Christian instructor shows no detailed knowledge of these events, but the time would certainly have remained in the popular memory as one of horror. In apocalyptic works war, with the suffering it entails, is a typical first phase of the troubles which precede the End. Cf. Mark 13:7-8 where wars are called aQxiJ 'twv wbiv(I)v, or 2 Bar. 70.7-8 (Charlesworth, vol. 1, p. 645), " The Most High will then give a sign to those nations which he has prepared before, and they will come and wage war with the rulers who will then remain. And it will happen that everyone who saves himself from the war will die in an earthquake" etc. 200 Our Gnostic Christian work ignores the destruction of the Temple - a Jewish concern 201 - but equally pays no attention to the Chris200 Among many other examples see also 4 Ezra 16.18 (Charlesworth, vo!. 1, p. 558); Apocalypse if Thomas, NTApocry2, p. 800. 201 Contrast the Jewish Sib. Or. 5.397-410 (Charlesworth, vo!. 1, p. 402), "The desired Temple has long ago been extinguished by you. When I saw the second Temple cast headlong, soaked in fIre by an impious hand, the ever-flourishing, watchful Temple of God made by holy people and hoped by their soul and body to be always imperishable .... But now a certain insignifIcant and impious king has gone up, cast it down, and left it in ruins with a great horde and illustrious men."

145 tian issue of the punishment of the Jews for their rejection ofChrist;202 its concern is with the supernatural world. If the Christian instructor is speaking, albeit in the most general terms, of real occurrences in the past, we may ask whether this helps to date his work. Since he treats these events as a prelude to the End he can scarcely regard them as having taken place long, long ago. The material which makes up the Christian Instruction might, then, come from the second century - though this gives us no clue as to the time at which the Christian Instruction was combined with the Non-Christian. 43,29-31 Then the wrath qfthe archons burned. Th'!)! were ashamed qftheir destruction. The literal "destruction" of the archons has yet to take place; the author, who shows no interest in this matter as such, presumably believes that they will be consumed by the final conflagration. The archons' "destruction" here might be the fact that the "eternal law" of death is annulled, (42,5-6) and their power therefore broken; or it might refer to the destruction the archons foresee for themselves at the End. 43,32-33 And were consumed (with rage) (oYW196) andforious with the Lift. 0YW196. "consume (by burning)" is here used intransitively; see Crum 502b. Our rendering agrees with Cherix's "ils se sont consumes" and Wisse's vivid "they fumed." The Greek original may have been Ee1J~WeY)oav.

43,33 The Lift. This most likely means Christ himself, cf.John 14:6. He is here so called because he has annulled the law of death. Alternatively, the meaning may be that the archons are angry at the eternal life which is now available to Christ's followers. In either case, the concern with life and death as such, a characteristic of the Christian instructor, is again evident here. 43,33 The cities were overthrown (190P19P). If the author is thinking of the events of 65-70 C. E. the reference might be to the destruction of Aquileia, the capture of various Galilean towns, the siege ofJerusalem, or the sack of Cremona or Rome. However, the instructor may not have specifics in mind. 190P19P might renders a Greek UVEtgu:rtY)oav. 43,34 The mountains dissolved. The most likely meaning is that the 202 Contrast Matt 22:7 JtE[l'l'a£ 'ta OLQU'tEU[lam all'tou umoAEOEv LOU£ OVEL£ EXEiVOU£ xat 'tTJv JtOALV mhwv EVEJtQl]OEV.

146

COMMENTARY

blood of the slain flowed in such quantities that it dissolved the mountains: cf. LXX Isa 34:3 oeL bE tQuuflU1:im alhwv QLllGovtm XUI, ot vExQoi ... XUI, ~Quxi]GEtm ta oQ'Y] tOU diflUto~ alhwv ("the mountains will be drenched with their blood."). 43,34-44,4 The Archon came up, with the archons qjthe west, to the east, that place (or: Jor it is that place) in which the Logos first appeared. As noted above (p. 144), this archontic attack is directed at Christ's place of origin. "The Archon" is best taken as the chief archon; the leader of the archontic hosts is so called at Ap.John 11,15; Treat. Seth 64,18; Hyp. Arch. 90,24; 92,8. He might be thought of as fIlling the role of Vespasian or Titus, as Hades may fIll the place of Pilate at 42,4-5. "The archons of the west," might be thought of as fIlling the role ofVespasian's allies or staff,203 or might be the demons whom Egyptian tradition associated with the west. Cf. Numenius Fr. 37 Des Places (Fr. 49 Leemans), "But before the souls descend into solid bodies, (the Egyptians') tradition says that there is a war of souls with the material demons, whom (tradition) has located in the west. For the west too, as the Egyptians have said, is a place of hurtful demons.''204 If this is the meaning of these lines, they provide further evidence that the Christian Instruction was composed in Egypt. 43,35 Came up (.\.C/61 62P.\.'j). The Archon "came up" from the west to the east, that is, from his starting point to his goal, and from the less important place to the more important. To the east. The "east" must here mean Palestine. 205 In this context "east" should not be determined from the author's point of view, but from the Archon's; however, it would be natural for an Egyptian author to speak of Palestine as "the east." 44,2-4 That place in which the Logosfirst appeared. However translated, these lines give the Archon's motive for going to the east. Wisse and Krause take X6 nTonoc ... Fhl)opn as appositive to '\'N'\'TOAH explaining and identifying it more closely. Wisse renders "the east, i.e., that place where the Logos appeared at fIrst." On this interpretation

ano

203 Conceivably Titus, Antonius Primus the legate of Legion VII, or C. Licinius Mucianus the governor of Syria. However, our author probably knows litde or nothing of the details of the wars of 69 and 70.

n

204 elt~t xat bVm~, w~ EAeyOV AlyultLLOL, tOltO~ eOtLv baLflOVWV XaXWtLXWV 205 At the conclusion of Tri. Trac., 138,8-13 we find the apocalyptic prophecy,

"(With) [the sound of] the great trumpet he will proclaim the great complete amnesty from the beauteous east, in the bridal chamber which is the love of God the Father." This "east" is purely symbolic, although the author may have Palestine in mind.

147 must be taken as a particle introducing the words which identify (Till, Koptische Grammatik, 356); it is rendered with "i.e." or the like, or left untranslated. Fischer and Cherix treat 43,2-4 as a substantive cleft sentence with its focus, or vedette the nominal phrase, nTonoc 6TMH~Y, and its topic, or glose, 6T~ ... N2HTL\ . This state the Archon's motive even more emphatically. Cf. Cherix's rendering "parce que c'est en ce lieu que le Logos est apparu au debut." If the sentence be so understood, 21:6 must be rendered as "for," a conjunction which introduces it and shows that it is explaining a reason. 206 44,4-6 Then the earth trembled and the cities were troubled. That is, the earth trembled with fear. Cf. Isa 13: 13 "Then the heaven will be wroth and the earth will be shaken from its foundations for the wrath of the Lord of hosts," and see also Jer 4:24, where it is the mountains that "tremble." The trembling of the earth might suggest an earthquake. "The cities were troubled" refers to the fright and confusion of their inhabitants. 44,6-8 Then the birds ate and were gorged with their dead. After the sanguinary battles, carrion birds feed on the dead who lie unburied on the field. Cf. Ezek 39:4; Rev 19: 17-21. "Gorged" implies that the field is thick with corpses, meat for the birds in abundance. 44,8-10 The earth mourned, and the inhabited world, and they were desolate. The archons' war of revenge is a worldwide catastrophe. "The earth" means the land on which the human race dwells; "the world," the human beings who dwell on the earth. The combination nl{~2 HN TOlKOYH6NH is similar to the OT expression, "land and all its inhabitants;" cf. Ps 74:4 Et(iltYJ ~ Yl] xaL nuvt££ Ot xa'tOLxouv't££ 21:6

T~N~ TOAH

EV atJ1:U.

44,10 Desolate. When this word refers to land, it means uncultivated, unfrequcnted, bearing noxious plants and infested by dangerous beasts; when it refers to people it means decimated, bereaved, leaderless and without organization. A grim description of what it might mean for both earth and world to be "desolate" is found at Isa 34:9-12, "And her valleys shall be turned to pitch and her land to brimstone, and her land will burn like pitch night and day .... And her smoke will go 206 For this sort of cleft sentence see Shisha-Halevy 35.1; however, it is exceptional that the topic here is introduced by a verb in a first tense (6n.. OYWN2 6BOA) rather than a second tense. Cherix cites a similar construction at Ac. Pet. 12 Apos. 2,19-21 LjTOOY Hlt6pOC 6T')"6IN')"Y 6POOY 2H n6L\CWlt.).., "There were four parts that I saw in him, in his body."

148

COMMENTARY

up. She will be desolate for generations and for a long time. And there shall dwell in her birds and vipers and ibises and crows. And there will be cast upon her the cord of the surveyor of unoccupied land, and satyrs will dwell in her. Her rulers will be no (longer), for her princes, her rulers and her leaders will be doomed to destruction." [The following four lines have been retained from the N on-Christian Instruction] H. The troubles which are to precede the End; 2. The culmination of wickedness 44,10-13 10 TOT6 NT,),P6N I;XPONOC XWK . TOT6 .). TK.).61')' I XIC6 6M')' T6 . .). YW *U}M)'')'H I MnT6AOC* MnAoroc .

10 Then, when the I times were fulfilled, then wickedness greatly, even to the *last I of the end* of the reckoning.

I increased

These lines give the reason for the nearness of the End: so much wickedness has accumulated that no more may be tolerated. In the Non-Christian Instruction without Christian interpolations they would have followed the words N')'IWN N')'TWXN at 43,11, since 43,3-11 are a warning that that the End is near. As they now stand in GrP, however, they provide an acceptable introduction to the coming, either of the Antichrist's fore-runner (44,13b), or of the Antichrist himself (44,31): wickedness has become prevalent enough to warrant this dreadful punishment. They would have been followed by 45,27b, which announces "the purification of the souls, since your wickedness has been excessive." When this part of the tractate was first revised by a Christian editor, the lines 44,13-31 would not yet have been added; he used our passage to introduce the Antichrist's coming and reIgn. 44,10-11 Then, when the times were fulfilled. The pre-determined conclusion of history has been reached, and it is now time for the End to come. For thought and expression comparable to this line see Mark 1: 15 JtEJtA.~~)(DLm 6 xmQo~ XUL ~YYLXEV ~ ~uoiA.ELU LaD SEOD. In our passage ;XPONOC appears instead of K')'IpOC, but either noun may be used to mean a previously determined time or interval. For the plural XQOVOL, in this sense and as a synonym for xmQoi, see 1 Thes 5:1. Lines 10-13 are a single sentence, in which the adverb TOT6 appears twice. At 1. 10 it marks the transition to a new stage of the narrative or topic of discussion; this is regular throughout GrP. How-

149 ever, at 1. 11 it corresponds with the temporalis particle NT.\.P6: when the times were fulfilled, then wickedness increased. The Greek original might have read 'to'tE, O'tE OL XQOVOL JtEJtA~Qwv'tm 'to'tE f]

xaXLa ALav llU;llGE. 44) 1-12 Then wickedness increased greatly. The verb XIC6, here used in the perfect, probably translates llU;llGE, "grew, increased" (cf. SahidicJob 3:30). However, if the underlying Greek verb was lnj)(OSll or eJt~QE'to, the meaning "was exalted" would be correct. In either case these lines may well refer to the time of extreme wickedness which, in many works of Jewish or Christian apocalyptic, is expected before the End. Cf. Micah 7:6, which M. Sotah 9.15 includes in the long list of horrors which are to precede the Messiah's arrival: "With the footprints of the Messiah: presumption increases, and dearth increases .... Children will shame elders and elders will stand up before children, 'For the son dishonors the father and the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against here mother-inlaw; a man's enemies are men of his own household'" (trans., Neusner).207 A Christian example, which speaks of the "increase of iniquity," is found at Did. 16.3-4. "For in the final days multitudes of false prophets and seducers will appear. Sheep will turn into wolves, and love into hatred. For with the increase of iniquity men will hate, persecute and betray each other. And then the world deceiver will appear in the guise of God's Son" etc. (trans., Richardson). The expectation of moral wickedness at the End time, of which the Non-Christian instructor writes here, is to be distinguished from the apostasy which will be prophesied at 45,15-17 by the Christian Instruction. The non-Christian instructor may have expected a surfeit of the sorts of sins he had listed at 39,21-33, but apostasy as such does not seem to fall within his purview. 44)3-14 Even to the *last if the end* if the reckoning. That is, humanity has added wickedness to wickedness and arrived at a point at which no more may be added. The divine reckoning of their sins, or of the time in which they may commit sins, is over, and they now deserve only destruction. U}.\. *T2'\'H MnT6'\'OC* Mn,\,oroc appears to translate a Greek original, EW~ 1'OU eGxa1'Ou 1'OU 'tEA01J~ 'tou AOY01J. However, such an expression as 'tou eGxa'to1J 'tou 'tEA01J~ seems unlikely. A scribal error may have inserted a redundant 't01J in the 207 Lactantius takes two entire chapters for his description of the final wickedness, Div. Inst. 7.15-16. (See Heck and Wlosok.)

150

COMMENTARY

phrase, t'O'u E xi,vY]ou~ O'tQU'tL~V 'tOO" IouALuvo£ AUXc 0l1flu aflcpo'tcQOv BULa. 't~~ (Jocj>La~ fi~ (or simply C>L' fi~ (Jocj>La~) lluQ~xa(JLv. The Coptic verb which we supply, 6NT3.y6NTC, translates the perfect of the Greek verb EUQL(JXW in its sense of "obtain, acquire." This restoration entails the difficulty that a length of 19 letters is required for 1. 4. However, lines of this length are found elsewhere in GrP. Fischer's translation of 11. 2-4, "[DaJnach wird das Erbarmen zu den [SeelenJ kommen [auf VerJanlassung der Sophia," presupposes a text restored as [TO]T6 nN3. NNHOY [NNtY)(H 680"-] 21TN TCOI3.. NNtY)(H are presumably the same "souls" who will be mentioned at 1. 9, and who, at 11. 17-18, will be said to have been "prepared through wisdom. Fischer leaves 1. 4 unrestored. The interpretation if 47,1 a-4 {Ih]en the mercy (nN3.) is on its wqy (HNHOY) [to those who have been prepared] by the wisdom [which thf!Y have acquired). The final, and everlasting manifestation of the pure souls in their glory, which will be beautifully described below at 11. 9-20, immediately follows the extinction of the fire. That the bestowal of this reward is called "the mercy" suggests that divine grace plays a part in the salvation of the pure. Despite their efforts in this life they have not merely secured salvation for themselves by self-preparation; salvation has been granted them by the Great Power. 255 By the same token, those who have failed to prepare themselves will need to beg for the Power's mercy (47,27-34). NNHOY probably renders a Greek JtQO(JEQXELaL, "is on its way, is approaching." When the fire goes out the pure souls may expect the mercy at once. 256 254 For an example of 21Tfi used in this sense even when it it not preceded by the preposition eBOA see Sahidic Lev 24: 12. 255 For a discussion of nature and grace in Gnostic thought see Rudolph, Gnosis, pp. 117-118. 256 For this rendering of fiNHOY cr. Ap. Jas 2,28. In our passage Krause renders

183

appears to render a Greek T() n.EO~. Not "mercy" in general, but a particular act of mercy is in question - its details will be described at 47,15-26 - just as "the judgment" mentioned at 47,1 was a particular act or process of judgment. As the parallel use of these two words suggests, both "the judgment" and "the mercy" are common nouns, neither of which is hypostatized. Those who have been prepared] by the wisdom [which thlfY have acquired] are those who have learned to apprehend the Great Power within them. nN.\.

J.

The final aeon; 2. The souls of the pure 47,5-26

TOT6 NCT6P61VM.\. [N.\.26] I 6ntTN 6nNOYN . TOT6 [N]Il9HP6 N·eY.-\.H NMVXN' NC6INMl)Wn6.\.N XIN Hn6! N'\'Y' I TOT6 HtY)(H N'\'OYWN2 10

6RO.-\. 6YOY'\''\'R6 21TH nQ[y]1061N NT60M . I T.\.!6TXOC6 I 6N60M

THPOY . t.\. Tl9I[TC] tKMl-0'-\'IKH . .\.NOK MN I N6TN.\.COYWNT THPOY . 15 .\.yw

C6N.\.l9wn6 2H n.\.llwN NTMNTC.\.616 .

n.\.IWN Ht.\.n 6YCBT.\.T TMNTOY'\'

NOY 30 WT

I 2N TCOtl.\. . 6.\.Yt600Y I Hn6T2N

N.\.TT620q

n6qOYWl96 6TN2YTOY . .\.yw n6qOY061N

.

I

.\.Y 25POY06lN

.

.\.yw

6YIN'\'Y

6pOq

6TB6

I .\.Yl9wn6 THPOY N211KWN 2H

THPOY

.

.\.yHTON

I

HMOOY

2N

T6q.\.N.\.n.\.YCIC

Then the firmaments [will fall] I down into the abyss. Then [the] I sons of matter will perish and I not exist any more. I Then the souls will appear 10 in their purity by the light I of the Power, this (Power) who is exalted I above all powers, the Immeasurable, I the Universal-"I, with I all who will know me!"- 15 and they will enter (or: be in) the I beautiful aeon, I the aeon of judgment (or: of the bridal chamber), prepared I by wisdom, because they have given glory I to Him (or: have glorified Him) who is in the sole 20 incomprehensible unity. And they I see him because of his delight I in them. And I they have all become images I in his light, and 25 have all shone, and found I rest in his rest. In these lines, the climax of the Non-Christian Instruction, the author describes the beatitude to which he and his co-religionists look forward. This impressive passage might be termed a "description of heaven," and as such is unusually effective. Together with the happy destiny of the pure Gnostics, the supreme divinity of their Great Power "kommt"; all the other translators have rendered tense.

NtlHOY

by a verb in the future

184

COMMENTARY

will be celebrated. In GrP God's attributes are triumphantly hymned at the end of the tractate; in other NHC tractates this subject tends to be discussed soberly at the beginning, as a preliminary to a salvation history which is to follow (see below). Lines 5-26 are dramatic. When the fire of the final conflagration goes out the firmaments fall, removing the barrier between the realms above and the realms below and thus rendering visible the final blessedness. Although 11. 5-12 consist of three short declarative sentences each introduced by TOT6, the activities which these sentences describe are best thought of as taking place, not successively but simultaneously. 47,5-6 Then the firmaments [will fall] down into the abyss. These lines open the description of "the (act of) mercy" which is "on its way to those who have been prepared." First, with the universe beneath them burned away and nothing left to support them, the firmaments come crashing down into the abyss. This completes the destruction of the universe; after this nothing which is material (and therefore impure) remains and the realm above (which is entire purity) is fully visible. We now hear for the first time that the non-Christian author held the common belief that there were several firmaments, and therefore several heavens. At 45,32-34 he mentioned only one firmament, since he was speaking there of the dew dropping from the sky directly overhead. Such a vivid picture of the firmaments' collapse is found elsewhere in apocalyptic literature, though not as commonly as we might expect. There is, however, a similar and more graphic passage at Or. World 126,28-35, "And their heavens will fall one upon the next and their (the rulers') forces will be consumed by fire. Their eternal realms, too, will be overturned. And his (the prime parent's) heaven will fall and break in two. His ... will fall down upon the [ - - - ] support them; they will fall into the abyss, and the abyss will be overturned." See also Sib. Or. 3.83-84 (Charlesworth, voU, p. 364), "the whole variegated vault of heaven falls on the wondrous earth and ocean"; and Man. Horn. 40,23 where, when the gods who hold the universe together have withdrawn into the realms of light, "Die aciLQu wird herabsenken durch ihre Schwere" (trans., Polotsky). 47,6-8 Then [the] sons if matter will perish (NMVXN) and not exist any more (Mn6"jN~y). At the very end no "sons of matter" - indeed, nothing material at all - will be left. This is the tractate's only mention of "sons of matter"; they are presumably persons who have no interest

185 at all in Gnostic truth. They are to be distinguished from the imprisoned souls, who will remain to cry for mercy after the firmaments have fallen. What sort of souls the author believed the "sons of matter" possessed, is not apparent. These persons do not entirely disappear until the very end of the conflagration; the verb N~WXN presumably renders a Greek future, SEgouV'tm. That the universe will be burned, not instantaneously but over a long period, is suggested by 46,23-24-whether or not the figure named in that passage, 1468 years, was an original part of the Non-Christian Instruction. Another passage in which the burning of the wicked is said to continue for ages is found at Sib. Or. 7.124129 (Charlesworth, vol.l, p. 413), "Then wretched men, burning badly, will look on heaven, void of stars but overcome by fire. They will not be destroyed quickly but, being burned in spirit by their perishing flesh for the years of ages forever, they will know, by dire tortures, that it is not possible to deceive the law of God." The expression Hn6"jN~y need not be taken with entire literalness, since a comparable expression, XIN NT6YNOY, sometimes translates the Greek pronoun f"tL; see Sahidic Heb 8:12; Rev 7:16; 18:22 etc. However, the literal "will not exist from that time on" would be a fair rendition. It is also possible that N~WXN renders a Greek o'tXY]aov"tm. In that case, since the verb o'tXEiv is perfect in meaning, N~WXN could be taken to mean simply, "will be gone." 47)9-13 Then the souls will appear in their puriry (6YOY~~R6) by the light if the Power) this (Power) who is exalted above all powers) the Immeasurable) the Universal.

All obstacles having now been cleared away, no barrier hides the pure Gnostic souls, which become visible in all their purity. Only the impure souls, however, exist to see them, since all others have perished. The circumstantial 6yOY~~R6 is best taken with the verb N~OYWN2 6ROA, and represents a Greek uvY]aov"tm X.USUgUL ouam. The meaning is, not that the purity of these souls will be revealed, but that the souls themselves will be revealed, in their purity. Cherix renders in this sense: "Alors les ames seront revelt':es pures, grace a la lumiere de la Puissance." By the same token, the souls are not made pure at this time by the light of the Power; they have maintained their purity, and this is now made manifest by the Power's light. 257 257

Contrast Wisse's rendering, which links

6yOy"-"-B6

with the phrase

21TH

186

COMMENTARY

47,11-12 Exalted above all powers. Since this scene represents the final triumph of the Great Power in those who know him, his attributes are here celebrated. GrP's treatment of these stands in contrast with that which is found in some other NHC tractates, since it is an ascription of praise rather than a doctrinal statement. The extensive expositions of the doctrine of God which we encounter in Gos. Truth, Tri. Trac., and Apoc. John all employ the divine attributes as their starting point in the salvation histories they intend to recount,258 and not as the climax of these histories. In GrP the attributes of God are named at the end of the work, both in triumph and as an act of homage to him. The phrase, "exalted above all powers," celebrates the supremacy of the Great Power. Whether this means that he is superior to any angel or archon, or simply that he is supremely powerful, is uncertain. Theistic literature often emphasizes God's superiority to lesser supernatural beings, and the non-Christian instructor certainly believes in the existence of such beings (37,9-14; 48,7-11).259 However, he does not use the term "powers" for gods, angels or archons (see p. 65). Nor does he make mention of them in the final aeon; he appears to assume that they perish with the world. "Exalted above all powers," then, may mean simply, "supremely powerful." This is sometimes the case in Samaritan literature; for example, a prayer at Defter p. 27 (Cowley, vol.l, p. 19, 1. 2) may be rendered "Thy power is above all powers and all powers are less than thy power. Our power is weak and vain, but thou art merciful." Similarly Defter pp. 5-6 (Cowley, vol. 1, p. 4, 1l.2-4) addresses God, "Forever, first and last, blessed is our God ... and holy is our God, whose power shall be blessed in heaven and on earth. There is no power that will stand but his power, and it will not work like his works" etc. (For both prayers see p. 257) 47,12 The Immeasurable. The meaning of "immeasurable" (~TU)ITC = a.~ETQrrro~) is near to that of a.JtEQavTo~, HSim's regular epithet for the Power; both words are roughly synonymous with "infinite." Though used of God less commonly than some other terms, "immeas"then the souls will appear, who are holy through the light of the Power." This gives the impression that it is the Power's light which makes the souls "holy." Fischer's translation is comparable to Wisse's: "Dann werden sich die Seelen offenbaren, die rein sind durch das Licht der Kraft." Krause's is also similar. 258 See Gos. Truth 18,32-19,10; Tri. Trac. 51,6-57,8; Ap. John 2,25-4,26. 259 One scriptural specimen-among many others - of such a comparison is found at Deut 10: I 7. NOYO€IN:

187 urable"is occasionally found. Thus at Ps.-Clem. Horn. 17.4 we find m:QI, Seov :rtuVtoxQatoQo~, aOQato'U, avuAAOLo}tO'U, a!lEtQilto'U.

At Tri. Trac. 56,10-15 in NHC we hear of "the boundlessness of his greatness and the unsearchability of his wisdom, and the immeasurability (tHNn..TU)ITC) of his power, and his untasteable sweetness."260 4 7,13 The Universal. The application of the term "universal" to God is unusual. Paired with "the Immeasurable," it might mean no more than "omnipresent." If it means more, the use of "universal" in the Gnostic source which is quoted at HRef 5.16.12-13 (Perat) might be seen as somewhat comparable. There the "universal Serpent" (as he has been named at 5.16.8) is the life-principle who is immanent in all things as "the great Beginning (John 1: 1) of whom it is written ... 'that which has come to be, in him is life.' For in him, he says, Eve has come to be ... 'the mother of all living,' that is, the common nature of gods, angels, immortals, mortals, rational beings, non-rational beings.'" 261 In our tractate the Power is not said to dwell in all life but is in all souls, or at least, in all Gnostic souls. If the instructor meant anything like this, he identified the Power more closely with the Stoics' universal fire than has been so far apparent. 262 47,13-14 ~ "1, and all who will know me (n6TN.)..coYWNT THPOy) ~. Since the pure souls appear by the Power's light, he and they appear together. The quotation must surely be a word of the Power himself rather than of a mediator, since the reader has not been urged to "know" anyone other than he. Since the pure are now united with the Power, their mention in the same breath with him is appropriate. (see below on 11. 22-26). Our rendering, "those who will know me," reproduces the tense of the Coptic verb n6TN')"coYWNT. The Coptic substantive is formed on this tense because the author is speaking of events which are still 260 See also Tri. Trae. 54,15-23; Ap.John 3,10-11; 4,2; 4,8-10 and, in Hippolytus, HRef 8.8.8. (Doe). 261 ~ !lEYciA.T) aQXTJ nEQt 1i~ Y€YQamm ... 5 Y€YOVEV EV alJ1:0 l;on] EO'tLV, EV aln:0 yciQ, . However, what the Commentator has said about "hidden and manifest portions" of the fire at 6.9.5-7, and the phrase n:AELwv VOEQWV here, suggest that, in the three pairs of contrasted terms, one is something perceptibleand the other something intelligible. The restoration of