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Gnosticism
Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a Nature created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, and is contrasted with a superior entity, ref...
 used a number of religious text
Religious text

Religious texts, also known as scripture, are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or of central importance to their religious tradition....
s that are preserved, in part or whole, in ancient manuscripts or are lost but mentioned critically in Patristic
Church Fathers

The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theology and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history....
 writings.








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Gnosticism
Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a Nature created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, and is contrasted with a superior entity, ref...
 used a number of religious text
Religious text

Religious texts, also known as scripture, are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or of central importance to their religious tradition....
s that are preserved, in part or whole, in ancient manuscripts or are lost but mentioned critically in Patristic
Church Fathers

The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theology and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history....
 writings.

Gnostic texts


Full or fragmentary

These texts exist in surviving manuscripts.
  • Acts of John
    Acts of John

    The Acts of John is a 2nd-century Christian collection of narratives and traditions, well described as a "library of materials" , inspired by the Gospel of John, long known in fragmentary form....
    • The Hymn of Jesus
  • Acts of Peter
    Acts of Peter

    The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal acts of the apostles. The majority of the text has survived only in the Latin translation of the Vercelli manuscript....
  • Acts of Peter and the Twelve
    Acts of Peter and the Twelve

    The Acts of Peter and the Twelve is one of the texts from the New Testament apocrypha which was found in the Nag Hammadi library.The text contains two parts, an initial allegory, and a subsequent gnostic exposition of its meaning....
  • Acts of Thomas
    Acts of Thomas

    The early 3rd century text called Acts of Thomas is arguably the most Gnosticism of the New Testament apocrypha, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly Redeemer", independent of and beyond creation, who can free souls from the darkness of the world....
    • The Hymn of the Pearl
      The Hymn of the Pearl

      The Hymn of the Pearl is a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. In that work, originally written in Syriac language, the Apostle Thomas sings the hymn while praying for himself and fellow prisoners....
  • Allogenes
    Allogenes

    Allogenes is a Sethian Gnosticism text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library, though there are many missing lines....


  • Apocalypse of Adam
    Apocalypse of Adam

    The Apocalypse of Adam discovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi library is a Gnosticism work written in Coptic language. It has no necessary references to Christianity and it is accordingly debated whether it is a Christian Gnostic work or an example of Jewish Gnosticism....
  • First Apocalypse of James
    First Apocalypse of James

    The First Apocalypse of James, part of the New Testament apocrypha also called the Revelation of Jacob, was first discovered amongst 52 other Gnostic Christian texts spread over 13 Codex by an Arab peasant, Mohammad Ali al-Samman, in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi late in December 1945....
  • Second Apocalypse of James
    Second Apocalypse of James

    The Second Apocalypse of James is one of the Gnostic Gospels, part of the New Testament apocrypha. It is believed to have been written around the 2nd century A.D., and then buried and lost until it was re-discovered amongst 52 other Gnostic Christian texts spread over 13 Codices by an Arab peasant, Mohammad Ali al-Samman, in the Egyptian tow...
  • Apocryphon of James
    Apocryphon of James

    The Apocryphon of James, also known by the translation of its title - the Secret Book of James, is a Pseudonymy text amongst the New Testament apocrypha....
  • Apocryphon of John
    Apocryphon of John

    The Secret Book of John is a second-century AD Sethian gnosticism text of secret teachings. It describes Jesus Christ reappearing after his Ascension of Jesus Christ and giving secret knowledge to the apostle John the Apostle....
  • Coptic Apocalypse of Paul
    Coptic Apocalypse of Paul

    The Coptic Apocalypse of Paul is one of the texts of the New Testament apocrypha found amongst the Nag Hammadi library. The text is not to be confused with the Apocalypse of Paul, which is unlikely to be related....
  • Coptic Apocalypse of Peter


  • Books of Jeu
    Books of Jeu

    The Books of Jeu are two gnostic texts considered part of the New Testament apocrypha. The earliest known copy is written in Coptic language, and appears as part of the Bruce Codex....
  • Book of Thomas the Contender
    Book of Thomas the Contender

    The Book of Thomas the Contender, also known more simply as the Book of Thomas , is one of the books of the New Testament apocrypha represented in the Nag Hammadi library, a cache of Gnostic gospels secreted in the Egyptian desert....
  • Dialogue of the Saviour
    Dialogue of the Saviour

    The Dialogue of the Saviour is one of the New Testament apocrypha texts that was found within the Nag Hammadi library of predominantly gnostic texts....
  • Letter of Peter to Philip
    Letter of Peter to Philip

    The Letter of Peter to Philip, found in the cache of texts at Nag Hammadi , contains a brief letter purporting to be from Saint Peter to Philip the Apostle, followed by a narrative and Gnosticism discourse upon the nature of Christ....
  • Odes of Solomon
    Odes of Solomon

    The Odes of Solomon is a collection of 42 odes attributed to Solomon. Various scholars have dated the composition of these religious poems to anywhere in the range of the first three centuries AD....
  • Pistis Sophia
    Pistis Sophia

    Pistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text, possibly written as early as the Second Century. The five remaining copies, which scholars place in the Fifth or Sixth Centuries, relate the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples , when the risen Christ had accomplished eleven years speaking with his disciples....
  • Secret Gospel of Mark
    Secret Gospel of Mark

    The Secret Gospel of Mark refers to a New Testament apocrypha gospel which is the subject of the Mar Saba letter, a previously unknown letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria which Morton Smith claimed to have found transcribed into the endpapers of a 17th century printed edition of the works of Ignatius of Antioch....
  • The Sophia of Jesus Christ
    The Sophia of Jesus Christ

    The Sophia of Jesus Christ is one of many Gnosticism tractates from the Nag Hammadi library, discovered in Egypt in 1945. The title is somewhat coded, since although Sophia is Greek language for wisdom, in a gnostic context, Sophia is the syzygy of Christ....


  • Gospel of the Egyptians
    Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians

    Two versions of the formerly lost Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians , were among the codices in the Nag Hammadi library, discovered in 1945.A sub-title the text appears to have in addition to Gospel of the Egyptians, is The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit....
  • Gospel of Judas
    Gospel of Judas

    File:Codex Tchacos p33.jpgFile:Judas.jpgThe Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel purported to document conversations between the Twelve apostles Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ....
  • Gospel of Mary
    Gospel of Mary

    The Gospel of Mary is an New Testament apocrypha discovered in 1896 in a fifth-century papyrus codex. The codex Berlin Codex was purchased in Cairo by German scholar :de:Karl Reinhardt....
  • Gospel of Philip
    Gospel of Philip

    The Gospel of Philip is one of the Gnostic Gospels, a text of New Testament apocrypha, dating back to around the third century but lost to modern researchers until it was rediscovered by accident in the mid-20th century....
  • Gospel of Thomas
    Gospel of Thomas

    The Gospel According to Thomas , also known as The Gospel of Thomas, is a New Testament-era apocryphon, nearly completely preserved in a Coptic papyrus manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt....
  • Gospel of Truth
    Gospel of Truth

    The Gospel of Truth is one of the Gnostic texts from the New Testament apocrypha found in the Nag Hammadi library Codex . It exists in two Coptic translations, a Subachmimic rendition surviving almost in full in the first codex and a Sahidic in fragments in the twelfth....
  • Unknown Berlin Gospel
    Unknown Berlin Gospel

    The Unknown Berlin Gospel is a fragmentary Coptic language text from an otherwise unknown gospel that has joined the New Testament apocrypha under the title Gospel of the Saviour....
     or     Gospel of the Savior


Quoted or alluded

These texts are mentioned or partially quoted in the writings of the Church Fathers.

  • Gospel of Basilides mentioned by Origen
    Origen

    Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....
    , Jerome
    Jerome

    Saint Jerome was a Christian priest and Christian apologetics best known for translating the Vulgate. He is recognized by the Catholic Church as a canonized saint and Doctor of the Church, and his version of the Bible is still an important text in Catholicism....
    , Ambrose
    Ambrose

    Saint Ambrose was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church....
    , Philip of Side
    Philip of Side

    Philip of Side or Philip Sidetes , a historian of the early Christian church, was born at Side, the ancient Greek Iconium, Pamphylia . He wrote a Christian history of which fragments survive....
    , and Bede
    Bede

    Bede , , was a monasticism at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria....
    .
  • Basilides
    Basilides

    Basilides was an early Christianity religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt. He apparently wrote twenty-four books on the Gospel and promoted a dualism influenced by Zoroastrianism....
    '     Exegetica mentioned in Hippolytus of Rome (Refutatio Omnium Haeresium VII, i-xv and X, x) and Clement of Alexandria
    Clement of Alexandria

    Clement of Alexandria , was the first notable member of the Christianity of Alexandria, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He was born about the middle of the 2nd century, and died between 211 and 216....
     (    Stromata
    Stromata

    The Stromata is the third in Clement of Alexandria's trilogy of works on the Christian life. Clement entitled this work Stromateis, "patchwork," because it dealt with such a variety of matters....
     IV, xii and IV, xxiv-xxvi)
  • Epiphanes
    Epiphanes (gnostic)

    Epiphanes is the legendary author of On Righteousness, a notable Gnosticism literary work that promotes communist principles, that was published and discussed by Clement of Alexandria, in Stromata....
    '     On Righteousness, mentioned in Clement of Alexandria (Str. III, ii).
  • Heracleon
    Heracleon

    Heracleon was a Gnostic who flourished about 175, probably in the south of Italy. He is generally classed by the early heresiologists as belonging to the Valentinius school of Gnosticism....
    , Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John, mentioned in Origen (    Commentary on the Gospel of John)
  • Naassene Fragment
    Naassene Fragment

    The Naassene Fragment is a fragmentary text that survives in no document save a quotation in the early third century encyclopedia of heresies by Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies ; it may be considered part of the New Testament apocryphal traditions, nevertheless....
     mentioned in Hippolytus (    Ref. 5.7.2-9).
  • Ophite Diagrams
    Ophite Diagrams

    The Ophite Diagrams are famous ritual and esoteric diagrams used by the Ophite Gnostic sect, who revered the serpent from the Garden of Eden as a symbol of wisdom, which the evil Demiurge tried to hide from Adam and Eve....
     mentioned in Celsus
    Celsus

    Celsus was a 2nd century Greeks philosopher and opponent of Christianity. He is known to us mainly through the reputation of his literary work, The True Word , almost entirely reproduced in excerpts by Origen in his counter-polemic Contra Celsum of 248, 70 or 80 years after Celsus wrote....
     and Origen
  • Ptolemy's
    Ptolemy (gnostic)

    Ptolemy the Gnostic was a disciple of the Gnosticism teacher Valentinius, and is known to us for an epistle he wrote to a wealthy woman named Flora, herself not a gnostic....
         Commentary on the Gospel of John Prologue, mentioned in Irenaeus
    Irenaeus

    Saint Irenaeus , was a Catholic Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology....
    .
  • Ptolemy's Letter to Flora, mentioned in Epiphanius
    Epiphanius

    Epiphanius was the name of several early Christianity scholars and ecclesiastics:*Saint Epiphanius of Pavia *Saint Epiphanius of Salamis , bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, author of Panarion...
    .
  • Theodotus: Excerpta Ex Theodoto mentioned in Clement of Alexandria.


Manuscripts

Kodeks Iv Naghammadi
*Askew Codex
Askew Codex

The Askew Codex is a parchment manuscript now held by the British Library which contains Coptic language translations of the Gnostic texts Pistis Sophia and parts of what G....
 contains Pistis Sophia
Pistis Sophia

Pistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text, possibly written as early as the Second Century. The five remaining copies, which scholars place in the Fifth or Sixth Centuries, relate the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples , when the risen Christ had accomplished eleven years speaking with his disciples....
 and some other unknown texts.
  • Berlin Codex
    Berlin Codex

    In 1896, the Coptic language Berlin Codex , given the accession number Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, was unearthed in Akhmim, Egypt. In January 1896, Carl Reinhardt bought the codex which had been discovered, wrapped in feathers, in a niche in a wall at a Christian burial site....
    , 5th century, contains a fragmentary Gospel of Mary
    Gospel of Mary

    The Gospel of Mary is an New Testament apocrypha discovered in 1896 in a fifth-century papyrus codex. The codex Berlin Codex was purchased in Cairo by German scholar :de:Karl Reinhardt....
    , out of nineteen pages, pages 1-6 and 11-14 are missing entirely, the Apocryphon of John
    Apocryphon of John

    The Secret Book of John is a second-century AD Sethian gnosticism text of secret teachings. It describes Jesus Christ reappearing after his Ascension of Jesus Christ and giving secret knowledge to the apostle John the Apostle....
    , The Sophia of Jesus Christ
    The Sophia of Jesus Christ

    The Sophia of Jesus Christ is one of many Gnosticism tractates from the Nag Hammadi library, discovered in Egypt in 1945. The title is somewhat coded, since although Sophia is Greek language for wisdom, in a gnostic context, Sophia is the syzygy of Christ....
    , and an epitome
    Epitome

    An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment.Many documents from the Ancient Greek and Ancient Rome worlds survive now only "in epitome," referring to the practice of some later authors who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost....
     of the Act of Peter
    Act of Peter

    The Act of Peter is a brief miracle text celebrating virginity that is found in the 5th-century papyrus Berlin Codex . It treats of the crippled virgin daughter of Simon Peter, who was accused by the crowd that gathered before his door, among whom he had caused many blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk: "But your virgin da...
    .
  • Bruce Codex
    Bruce Codex

    The Bruce Codex is a gnosticism manuscript acquired by the British Museum. In 1769, Lord James Bruce purchased the codex in Thebes, Egypt in Upper Egypt....
     contains the first and second Books of Jeu
    Books of Jeu

    The Books of Jeu are two gnostic texts considered part of the New Testament apocrypha. The earliest known copy is written in Coptic language, and appears as part of the Bruce Codex....
     and three fragments - an untitled text, an untitled hymn, and the text "On the Passage of the Soul Through the Archons of the Midst".
  • Codex Tchacos
    Codex Tchacos

    File:Codex Tchacos p33.jpgThe Codex Tchacos is an ancient Egyptian Coptic language papyrus containing early Christian Gnosticism texts from approximately 300 A.D.,:...
    , 4th century, contains the Gospel of Judas
    Gospel of Judas

    File:Codex Tchacos p33.jpgFile:Judas.jpgThe Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel purported to document conversations between the Twelve apostles Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ....
    , the First Apocalypse of James
    First Apocalypse of James

    The First Apocalypse of James, part of the New Testament apocrypha also called the Revelation of Jacob, was first discovered amongst 52 other Gnostic Christian texts spread over 13 Codex by an Arab peasant, Mohammad Ali al-Samman, in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi late in December 1945....
    , the Letter of Peter to Philip
    Letter of Peter to Philip

    The Letter of Peter to Philip, found in the cache of texts at Nag Hammadi , contains a brief letter purporting to be from Saint Peter to Philip the Apostle, followed by a narrative and Gnosticism discourse upon the nature of Christ....
    , and a fragment of Allogenes
    Allogenes

    Allogenes is a Sethian Gnosticism text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library, though there are many missing lines....
    .
  • Nag Hammadi library
    Nag Hammadi library

    The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of Early Christianity Gnosticism Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper_Egypt town of Nag Hammadi in 1945....
     contains a large number of texts (for a complete list see the listing
    Nag Hammadi library

    The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of Early Christianity Gnosticism Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper_Egypt town of Nag Hammadi in 1945....
    )
  • Three Oxyrhynchus
    Oxyrhynchus

    Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya Governorate. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered....
     papyri contain portions of the Gospel of Thomas
    Gospel of Thomas

    The Gospel According to Thomas , also known as The Gospel of Thomas, is a New Testament-era apocryphon, nearly completely preserved in a Coptic papyrus manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt....
    :
    • Oxyrhyncus 1: this is half a leaf of papyrus which contains fragments of logion 26 through 33.
    • Oxyrhyncus 654: this contains fragments of the beginning through logion 7, logion 24 and logion 36 on the flip side of a papyrus containing surveying
      Surveying

      Surveying or land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional space position of points and the distances and angles between them....
       data.
    • Oxyrhyncus 655: this contains fragments of logion 36 through logion 39 and is actually 8 fragments named a through h, whereof f and h have since been lost.


See also

  • General topics
    • New Testament apocrypha
      New Testament apocrypha

      New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings of the early Christian church that give accounts of the teachings of Jesus, aspects of the life of Jesus, accounts of the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives....
    • Pseudepigraphy
      Pseudepigraphy

      Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded; a work, simply, "whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past." For instance, no Hebrew scholars would ascribe the Book of Enoch to Enoch , a character mentioned in Generations of Adam....
    • Gnosticism
      Gnosticism

      Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a Nature created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, and is contrasted with a superior entity, ref...
    • Textual criticism
      Textual criticism

      Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the Writing of manuscripts....
    • Agrapha
      Agrapha

      Agrapha are sayings of Jesus that are not found in the canonical Gospels. The term was used for the first time by J.G. K?rner, a German Bible scholar in 1776....
  • Related literature
    • List of Gospels
      List of Gospels

      Gospels are a genre of Early Christian literature claiming to recount the life of Jesus, to preserve his teachings, or to reveal aspects of God's nature....
    • Apocalyptic literature
      Apocalyptic literature

      Apocalyptic literature was a new genre of prophecy writing that developed in post-Exilic Judaism culture and was popular among millennialism early Christianity....
    • Epistles
    • Acts of the Apostles (genre)
      Acts of the Apostles (genre)

      The Acts of the Apostles is a genre of Early Christian literature, recounting the lives and works of the Twelve apostles of Jesus. This is considered important mainly because of the concept of apostolic succession....
    • List of New Testament papyri
      List of New Testament papyri

      A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus. To date, over one hundred and twenty such papyri are known....


External links

  • - from earlychristianwritings.com