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A Sampling of Other Gnostic Literature

There are many fascinating texts beyond those already described in this book that experts call “Gnostic.” They are products of various ancient and medieval sects and include Valentinian, Sethian, and Syrian writings; early wisdom gospels; Manichaean, Mandaean, and Hermetic literature; and Catheri writings, among others. This chapter highlights a sampling of a few of those texts. For a fuller offering of Gnostic texts, see The Gnostic Bible or The Nag Hammadi Library , or search myriad Internet libraries for early Christian writings.

The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles

This document, like so many of the Gnostic texts, relies heavily on allegory for its account of a pearl hawker who does not possess the gem he offers, but instead directs those interested in it to his city. Experts date the first part of the text to roughly the middle of the second century with the remainder dating to the end of the second or beginning of the third century. The beginning of this tractate (in Codex VI, 1 of the Nag Hammadi materials) is missing.

When the story commences, Peter and the Apostles are on a trip to spread the gospel. After finding a ship to transport them upon the sea, they sailed a day and night. They arrived at a small city called Habitation. The Apostles sought lodging and met a man carrying a book cover in one hand and a wooden staff in the other. He began hawking pearls. Peter asked him about lodging but the man said he, too, was a stranger. The man called out the word “pearls,” and the rich men of the city looked at him, but not seeing a pouch or bag upon his body to contain valuables, they turned away from the hawker. The poor and the beggars heard the hawker's call, and they asked to see the pearl. The man told them that if they would go to his city they could not only see the treasure but he would give it to them for nothing.

Peter asked the man his name and was told Lithargoel, meaning the “glistening stone.” The hawker told Peter that only those who have forsaken everything and who have fasted daily can embark upon the trip to his city because of the robbers and wild beasts who attack travelers to the city in order to steal from them bread, costly garments, water, meat, and green vegetables.

…the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth…selleth all…and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. — Matthew 13:44–46

Peter sighed while reflecting on the possible hardships. He thought aloud that they could do it if only Jesus would empower them. The man asked Peter why he sighed if he truly knew and believed in Jesus, adding, that he, himself, believed in Jesus and also the Father who sent Jesus. When Peter asked the man what his city's name was, the man told him Nine Gates and to remember that the head is the tenth.

The story shifts a little awkwardly to the next section where Peter and the others embark upon the journey to the city of the hawker. Peter was told that the inhabitants of the city were people who had endured. Lithargoel now appeared as a physician carrying an unguent box. A disciple followed with a bag of medicines. Peter asked the physician how to get to Lithargoel's house and was shocked when the man called Peter by his name. Jesus then disclosed his identity to Peter. The disciples fell on the ground and prostrated themselves before the Lord. The text says that they comprised eleven disciples (the title states twelve), but does not reveal the identity of the one absent.

Jesus presented the box and pouch to Peter and told the Apostles to go back to the city of Habitation and give the poor what they required to live. Peter did not understand how they could possibly find food to feed all the poor. Jesus reminded Peter of the power of his name, telling him that the invocation of his name and the wisdom of God surpassed all riches. Jesus gave them the medicine pouch and told them to heal the sick. Peter feared questioning Jesus again, so he pushed John into speaking for the group. John asked Jesus how they could heal bodies since they had not been trained. Jesus said to heal the bodies of the people who believed in him — when you heal bodies without medicines, you can later heal the hearts because they will trust you. Jesus admonished them to stay away from the rich men.

It seems odd that the journey to Jesus' island village of Nine Gates is undertaken on foot. Another oddity is that the number of disciples in the text contradicts the number in the title. Finally, there are several awkward transitions in the piece, which suggests that it is a composite work that might be Gnostic in some sense but with little in it to offend traditional Christians.

Certainly, early Christians could see the message here that the wealthy are so preoccupied with appearances (or lack of appearance, in the case of the hawker and the treasure that they could not see) that they would not hear Jesus' message nor know the great treasure that he offered to give them for free. The text also dispels doubt about the power of prayer and of invoking the names of the Father and Son.

The Secret Book of John

The Apocryphon (Secret Book) of John offers a Gnostic mythological story of the creation, fall, and salvation of humankind. The text exists in three versions translated from the original Greek into Coptic — two similar versions plus a shorter text found at Nag Hammadi. Another Coptic version from the original Greek was part of the Berlin Codex 8502.

The story is told from the point of view of the risen Christ to John, son of Zebedee. The cosmology is similar to Gnostic teachings known to early church fathers. As with other versions of the Gnostic creation myth, error occurs when Sophia, a light being, attempts to create without permission of the supreme deity or her consort. Sophia brings forth a creature known as Yaldabaoth, the creator of the material universe who has some of his mother's light/power. He then creates rulers for his world (angels). He and his attendants create man in the image of God with characteristics that each of them contribute. When Yaldabaoth is tricked into infusing man with some of his light/power, the man, Adam, comes alive.

Who was John, son of Zebedee?

John was the “Beloved Disciple” of the canonical New Testament, the authority for the Gospel of John, and author of Revelation. John, son of Zebedee and Salome and brother to James, was called “Boanerges,” meaning “Son of Thunder.” He was one of three disciples in Jesus' core group.

The manuscript declares that the struggle for the trapped light in humans is the catalyst for the ensuing struggle of the forces of light and dark, good and evil, which is the whole point of the text — the origin of evil and the means of escaping it. When woman is created, and man knows woman in sexual desire through their physical bodies, the light is kept trapped and escape becomes difficult, but not impossible. Christ comes into the world to broadcast the news that humans have forgotten their divinity. Those who renounce the material world and live ascetic lives return to the heavenly realm of perfection, but those who do not reincarnate.

The Apocryphon of John existed prior to A.D. 185 because Irenaeus referred to it in Against Heresies as among the writings possessed by unorthodox teachers. There are four versions of the text — three are Coptic versions from the ancient Greek found at Nag Hammadi and another version survives as part of the Berlin Codex 8502 found in Akhmim, Egypt.

John writes that at the temple one day, he encountered Arimanius, a Pharisee, who castigated him, telling him that Jesus was a deceptive Nazarene who had turned John away from his ancient Jewish traditions. John retreated to a solitary place where he grieved and prayed for answers to his questions about the Father God, Jesus the Savior, the realm of the imperishable ones, and the future.

He found himself suddenly in the middle of a divine visitation. Heaven opened and the world below could be seen. John observed a boy who changed into a man who then became like a servant. John explained it was a single being showing likenesses in three different forms. The being asked John why he had doubt and fear and explained that he was the undefiled and incorruptible Father, Mother, and Son who was going to teach John hidden mysteries about the immortal ones. John then received a detailed description of the Monad, the Invisible Spirit, as majestic Perfection that bestows knowledge, grace, life, blessedness, goodness, mercy, and redemption.

John was told that the Forethought of All, the first power of the Invisible Spirit, emerged as Barbelo (the Mother/Father, First Man, and Holy Spirit). From the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo, emerged Forethought, Foreknowledge, Indestructibility, Eternal Life, and Truth.

What is a visionary gospel?

Narrative accounts in ancient times evolved into the Christian gospel as a means for declaring their faith. Often they included visions, postresurrection stories, and miracles, such as healings. Other types of gospels are the sayings gospels, like Thomas and Q, which contain the sayings of Jesus.

The Apocryphon of John describes the five powers that emerged from the Invisible Spirit and Barbelo as androgynous emanations (although each is made up of a masculine and feminine Aeon). Therefore, ten Aeons make up the unknowable Divine Parent. From this beginning all others emerged, including Christ and Sophia.

Here again, the myth of the Gnostics stays true to the storyline of Sophia trying to create on her own without permission of the Invisible Spirit or her own consort, thus bringing forth Yaldabaoth, the arrogant one. He created many Aeons and then proclaimed himself ruler over them. His mother Sophia wept and repented and everyone in the Pleroma heard her. The Invisible Spirit allowed for Sophia to return to the ninth level, one above the Demiurge that she had created, until she could correct the deficiency her act had caused. In the meantime, the Secret Gospel of John states that Yaldabaoth called upon his powers to create a human being, Adam, starting with a variety of souls: bone soul, sinew soul, skin soul, blood soul, and so forth. In mind-numbing detail, the gospel lists every power involved in the creation of man's body parts as well as the seven powers in charge of the senses, and the demons of the whole body.

In great detail, the Apocryphon of John describes how Adam came into being and received the gift of light/life. Actually, it was three men (psychic, pneumatic, and hylic) that came into being in the body of one man who remained lifeless. Adam was imperfectly made, so the angels of the first archon told the Demiurge Yaldabaoth to breathe out the power of his own pneuma (the light power of his mother Sophia) into the Adam's face. When he did, Adam moved with life. But he was so strong and bright that the rulers became fearful and they cast him into the darkest regions of the physical realm. The pneuma seeds remained in Adam, but the powers of darkness no longer had complete control over them. Thereafter, the struggle ensued between the powers of light and the powers of darkness.

The most exalted deity found in the Apocryphon of John is synonymous with the Greek abstract idea or concept of perfection. From this impersonal being, who has no involvement in the material world, beings of light, including Christ and Sophia, emerge.

The risen Savior instructs John to write down the revelation about the mystery of the immovable race. John must keep it safe, for anyone trying to exchange the revelation for food, drink, or clothing will be cursed. Then John declares that he goes to the other disciples to tell them what has been revealed to him.

The beginning of the text explains how Christ emerged when the Invisible Spirit “gazed” upon Barbelo, who became impregnated with the pure light of the spark of the Invisible Spirit. The Invisible Spirit then anointed the Christ with “goodness.”

The Apocryphon of John seems to emphasize the importance of Barbelo and Christ asking and receiving permission from the First Parent before emanating others. Afterwards, the First Parent is praised. In contrast, Sophia did not seek permission or create with her consort (the established protocol) and, therefore her offspring was a monster created in error, and he, in turn, created an imperfect shadow world of the heavenly realm.

Christianity takes its name from the word “Christ.” The Greek word is Christos, which means “anointed one.” The ancient Hebrews anointed their sacred objects, such as vessels, and also their priests as an act of consecration. References to anointing of the high priest is found in Exodus 29:29 and Leviticus 4:3. The canonical gospels share accounts of the anointing of Jesus.

The Dialogue of the Savior

The Dialogue of the Savior, a fragmented manuscript with many lacunae in the first part of it, details a dialogue that the Savior has with his disciples Mary Magdalene, Matthew, and Judas, although further along the text refers to twelve disciples. Nowhere in the manuscript is the speaker ever called Jesus or the Christ; rather, he is referred to as the Lord or Savior. Many of the questions that the disciples ask and the Savior answers parallel the traditional sayings found in the canonical gospels as well as in the Gospel of Thomas. Some of the sayings, which may have been part of an older tradition and certainly were circulating prior to the writing of the gospels, were elaborated upon and reinterpreted upon the framework of Gnosticism. However, it is important to remember that the Gnostic sects did not all hold the same beliefs, were fiercely independent, and did not establish a hierarchy of leadership like that of the emerging orthodox Christian church. The disciples of Jesus, the author reveals, still had work to do while they were in the flesh, but the time of rest was coming, just as it had come for the Savior. Their work was also the work of their Lord while he was enveloped in a garment of flesh — to save souls and extol the greatness of the “revealer.”

The greater part of the Dialogue of the Savior consists of sayings that address redemption, rest, work of the Christian life, and the passage of the Gnostic soul through the powers to its final resting place (the latter topic also was addressed in the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene). Other literary pieces have been woven into the manuscript, including some baptismal theology, apocalyptic revelation, cosmological wisdom, and creation mythology based on Genesis. A redactor has tacked onto the beginning a prayer along with some Gnostic teaching about the ascension of the soul through the dark powers to heaven. There are no mentions of the Dialogue of the Savior in other sources that could help establish the date of the composition, but experts think the most likely date for the original source for the material could be the end of the first century. Others assert that the final redaction of the work could have been around A.D. 150.

The Dialogue of the Savior describes Mary Magdalene as the “woman who had understood completely.” Scholars Helmut Koester and Elaine Pagels write in their introduction to the Nag Hammadi Library that it addresses, among other things, the theme of continuation in the human race through the process of childbirth.

At the beginning of the text, the Savior tells his disciples that they must abandon their work, for the time has come to rest. The text seems to offer an exhortation to baptism, saying that those who seek unceasingly until they find then have rest and rule. In baptism, you symbolically die, casting off your old self to be born anew in a life in Christ.

After telling his disciples how to offer a prayer of praise, the Savior discusses how their souls, when the fleshly body is discarded, will ascend through the powers in the physical realm. He warns the disciples that they will be afraid, but to remember to be of a “single” mind or focus. He reminds them that the lamp of the body, which illuminates and therefore dispels darkness, is the mind. Luminosity comes when hearts are not dark and the thoughts of the mind are not scattered. Matthew tells the Savior that he wants to see the place of light where there is no wickedness. This suggests a saying found in Matthew.

The Savior tells that Matthew cannot see that place of light as long as he wears his fleshly body. So was the Savior saying that Matthew had to die before seeing the place of light where wickedness is not found? The Gnostics believed that they did not have to die in order to gain new life. Perhaps the text is suggesting a baptism by light, the inner light of gnosis. Once baptized in that inner mystical knowledge, conferred in or by holy light, Matthew and the others could remain in their bodies and do the work of the Savior, revealing the “Revealer” and saving souls, confident of their future in heaven where their rest and rule was assured. In fact, the translators of the text suggest that the baptismal initiation discussion pertains to the conflict over eschatology (the last days or final events in the world and human destiny).

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! — Matthew 6:22–23

The Savior tells them that whatever is born of truth (the place where the Lord is present) never dies but that which is born of a woman does. Mary asks the Savior why she has come to the world she is in, whether it is for gain or to give up something. The Savior tells her it is to make clear the revealer's abundance. This leads into a section about the dissolution of the works of womanhood.

The admonishment from the Savior to find a place to pray where there is no woman should not be taken as a command to negate the value of women or withdraw from the world to become an ascetic. Rather, it is a command to understand birth in a different context — that is, through the one (issuing forth from the Father) born in Christ. In fact, the Dialogue of the Savior showcases to a degree Mary's vital role in the discussion with the Savior through her meaningful and insightful comments, even to the point of claiming that she had “understood completely.”

The first-century followers of Jesus believed that the end of the world would come in their lifetime. Church leader Justin Martyr believed that the end-time had not come in circa A.D. 130 because God desired for Christianity to spread worldwide. Some modern Christians prophesied that the end-time is near.

The Sophia of Jesus Christ

A pair of documents discovered among the Nag Hammadi treasures contained such similarities that one appeared to be based upon the other. Scholars assert that the Eugnostos the Blessed tractate was directed at one audience and the Sophia of Jesus Christ was aimed at a different group, possibly non-Christian Gnostics who were already familiar with Eugnostos but for whom Christianity was something new. In the Nag Hammadi Library , side-by-side texts show how the non-Christian document (Eugnostos) could be transformed into the Gnostic Christian text of the Sophia of Jesus Christ. Some words are taken verbatim from Eugnostos into the other text and placed upon Jesus' lips. This raises the question of whether writers in antiquity borrowed from other texts to attribute sayings and words of explanation to Jesus in the works they were creating.

The process of drawing upon one document to modify or create another was possibly used on other Gnostic texts, such as the Apocryphon of John and the Gospel of the Egyptians, according to Douglas M. Parrot's introduction to the Sophia of Jesus Christ in the Nag Hammadi Library . Scholars have referred to Eugnostos the Blessed and the Sophia of Jesus Christ (also called the Wisdom of Jesus Christ) as a revelation discourse in which the risen Christ answers his disciples' questions. Two different versions of both the Sophia of Jesus Christ and Eugnostos the Blessed were discovered at Nag Hammadi. The dating of the Sophia of Jesus Christ seems to be near the end of the first century. Eugnostos may have been composed during Jesus' lifetime or thereafter.

Eugnostos the Blessed opens as a letter with a formal greeting and goes on to proclaim that even the wisest philosophers have not understood the truth about the “ordering” of the world and that they have spoken three opinions, not agreeing. The Sophia of Jesus Christ opens after Jesus has risen and his twelve disciples and some women go up on a mountain called Divination and Joy. There the Savior appears and tells them that their speculation about the world order has not reached the truth, nor has it been reached by the three ways the philosophers (who don't agree) have put forth. Right away, it is easy to see the close association of the two texts.

The similarity continues with the way both texts describe the Supreme Being as “ineffable.” Jesus says the word in response, however, to a question from Matthew. And so the two texts move along, with the Eugnostos the Blessed revealing how the universe emerged out of the “ineffable” Father. A series of Aeons (male and female) emanated from him. They, in turn, along with their assorted attendants, fill various heavenly realms. Eventually humans emerge. Their realm is called the realm of Immortal Man. In the Sophia of Jesus Christ, much of the same information unfolds in Jesus' answers to his disciples' questions.

The Syrian and Egyptian schools of Gnosticism often featured in their doctrines an unknowable Supreme Being who emanated lesser beings called Aeons in pairs (male and female). These Aeons came forth in sequential order with the lowest of them being the Christ and Sophia pair. All together, they were seen as symbolizing the abstract nature of the Divine.

The Father of the Universe, according to Eugnostos the Blessed, is more correctly referred to not as Father but as Forefather. The text discusses how that which comes from the imperishable will never perish but that which emerges from the perishable will die. These sections of the two texts are almost identical. Both texts conclude with the revelation that the Son of Man and his consort Sophia together show forth a light that is both great and androgynous — this light is the Savior. His masculine name is Savior, Begetter of All Things; his feminine name is Sophia, All Begetress.

The Apocalypse of Peter

Peter has three visions or revelations and the Savior interprets them for him in the Apocalypse of Peter. The visions reveal hostility toward the Gnostics and their persecution by the various factions of the emerging Christian church. The Gnostics look like traditional Christians on the outside but inwardly they know they are different because of their immortal essence. The apocalyptic part comes in when the Gnostics yearn for the Son of Man to return (Second Coming) to judge the aggressors and oppressors and prove right the beliefs of the Gnostics.

The Apocalypse of Peter has been dated to roughly the third century. Although not accepted into the canon of the New Testament, Clement of Alexandria regarded the Apocalypse of Peter as a sacred scripture, and it may have been once widely circulated in the ancient world. Today, the text remains in the New Testament apocrypha. Two quite different versions from the original Greek survive, one in Greek that was discovered in an excavation of a monk's grave at Akhmim, Upper Egypt, in 1886 to 1887, and the other in an Ethiopic script found in 1910. The author of the tractate uses Peter as the authority for its content. At least three other ancient texts possess parallel passages, suggesting a reliance on a previously existing but unknown source of apocalyptic literature. The Apocalypse of Peter was likely written for a popular audience.

What are tractates?

The literature found at Nag Hammadi included tractates (religious piece of writing) and codices (leather-bound books with pages made from papyrus). The codices are the physical makeup of the texts, while the tractates refer to essays or type of writings. The tractates were bound into the codices.

The Apocalypse of Peter opens with the Savior in the temple praising Peter. While the Savior was speaking, telling Peter to be strong (with emphasis on spiritual authority and leadership), Peter sees a mob of priests and others with stones who seem intent on assaulting him. The Savior explains that there are blind people. He tells Peter to cover his eyes and see for himself. Told to do it a second time, Peter then saw light, and in it the Savior with the priests praising Jesus. Peter is made to understand that there are deaf and blind people and that he had to be careful about revealing things to others. Some, who do not understand or have no knowledge, will blaspheme. Some will believe him when he speaks about the Savior, but then later will fall away from their beliefs. The immortal ones who mingle with them become their prisoners. Clinging to the name of a dead man, thinking it will make them pure, the deaf and blind ones fall into error and become defiled. Peter is assured that the blind will be judged. In the conclusion to the Apocalypse of Peter, Jesus gives Peter a pep talk and tells him that his enemies will not prevail. After that, Peter “awoke” from his vision.

It is obvious that the apocalyptic text is referencing the schism between the Gnostics and the orthodox Christians, which by the third century was very much in the open. Differences between the literalist Christian and Gnostic interpretations of Jesus' life and teachings resulted in accusations of Gnostic heresy by the church. It is interesting that the Gnostic writer of the Apocalypse of Peter chose Peter to star in his account, since Peter was seen as Jesus' chief disciple and was venerated by the traditional Christian community. In fact, the emerging orthodox hierarchy saw Peter as its human spiritual anchor, referring to him as its first bishop or pope.