20

The Prayer of the Messenger Paul

T he Prayer of the Messenger Paul is a lovely prayer, with apparent Valentinian features. For Valentinians Paul was a special messenger, and they maintained that Paul was the teacher of Theudas and Theudas the teacher of Valentinos. The prayer opens with a meditation on intimacy with god, who is the mind, treasure, fullness, and rest for the one praying: “My redeemer, redeem me, I am yours. I came from you.” The prayer then requests authority, that the body may be healed, the soul redeemed, and the mind granted “the fullness of grace.” Lastly, the prayer asks for enlightenment in words that recall Gospel of Thomas 17 and 1 Corinthians 2:6, and it closes with a doxology and a final amen. The reference in the last section of the prayer to “the animate god [or the psychical god],” as well as the “eyes of angels” and the “ears of rulers [or archons],” is reminiscent of Valentinian and other gnostic texts.

The Prayer of the Messenger Paul is also the first text of Nag Hammadi Codex I, which may well be a Valentinian book. It was copied onto the front flyleaf of the codex, probably after the scribe had copied the rest of the texts in that codex. The prayer was composed in Greek, but precisely when, where, and by whom remains unknown. It is attributed to Paul, pseudonymously, in the title at the end of the text .

PRAYER OF THE MESSENGER PAUL 1

Grant me your mercy. 2

My redeemer, redeem me,

for I am yours.

I came from you.

You are my mind:

give me birth.

You are my treasure:

open for me.

You are my fullness:

accept me.

You are my rest:

give me unlimited perfection.

I pray to you,

you who exist and preexisted,

in the name exalted above every name, 3

through Jesus the anointed,

lord of lords,

king of the eternal realms.

Give me your gifts, with no regret,

through the human child,

the spirit,

the advocate of truth.

Give me authority, I beg of you,

give healing for my body, as I beg you,

through the preacher of the gospel, 4

and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,

and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.

Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,

what ears of rulers have not heard,

and what has not arisen in the hearts of people, 5

who became angelic,

and after the image of the animate god 6

when it was formed in the beginning.

I have the faith of hope.

And bestow upon me

your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,

you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,

and the wonderful mystery of your house.

For yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,

forever and ever.

Amen.

1 . The Prayer of the Messenger Paul: Nag Hammadi Codex I (I, 1 , pp. 1-B, 10), translated from the Coptic by Marvin Meyer. For an additional example of gnostic prayer, see the Hermetic Prayer of Thanksgiving; also see the Three Steles of Seth.

2 . Two or three lines of the Coptic text are missing at the very beginning of the prayer, and the first line here is partially restored. The missing line just before may read something like the following: “Fill me with your light.”

3 . Philippians 2:9 .

4 . Perhaps Paul, or Jesus.

5 . Gospel of Thomas 17; 1 Corinthians 2:6.

6 . Or, “the psychical god,” that is, the creator of this world and people in this world, as described in other gnostic texts.