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THE APOCALYPSE of ZOSTRIANOS and IOLAOS a Platonic Reminiscence of the Heracleidae at NHC VIII,1.4* the Sethian Gnostic1 Apocaly

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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS A Platonic Reminiscence of the Heracleidae at NHC VIII,1.4* For Bentley Layton The Sethian Gnostic1 apocalypse Zostrianos (Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,1) provides a crucial glimpse into Gnostic Platonism of the third century C.E. and beyond2, but not just for its metaphysics; the text’s genre and literary trappings also provide useful information about how some Gnostics pack- aged their more philosophically-inclined works, and, indeed, regarded the Hellenic culture which loomed behind their investigations into the intel- ligible spheres. Research into Zostrianos has focused on its metaphysics and relationship to contemporary “Pagan” thought, leading a vast majority of scholars to regard it as a “Pagan” apocalypse, perhaps even designed to appeal to contemporary Greek philosophers3. Yet an attentive reading * This article was written under the auspices of a postdoctoral research fellowship from Copenhagen University (the Faculty of Theology), to which I express my gratitude. 1 Important critiques of the category of Gnosticism include WILLIAMS, Rethinking Gnosticism, KING, What is Gnosticism?. Here I generally agree with Layton that “Gnostics” is a useful term for designating a particular group of individuals who called themselves “Gnostics” (“knowers”) and were associated with a particular body of myths centered on the fall of Sophia and the creation of the world by a morally ambivalent or evil demiurgic figure (LAYTON, Prolegomena, p. 366-369; see also, more recently, BRAKKE, Gnostics, p. 29-51). Certainly this myth is referred to in passing in Zost., NHC VIII,1.9-11. More- over, Porphyry (Vit. Plot., ch. 16) entitles the work his master composed against the mem- bers of their seminar who possessed a copy of Zost. “Against the Gnostics (Pròv toùv Gnwstikoúv).” Zost. appears to belong to the “Sethian” school of Gnosticism divined by SCHENKE, Phenomenon, p. 588-616, and in other works; the classic monograph is TURNER, Platonic Tradition; for critique and more recent discussion, see WILLIAMS, Sethianism, p. 32-63; RASIMUS, Paradise. 2 We know that some Greek Vorlage of Zostrianos circulated in the seminar of the great philosopher Plotinus, in the year 263 C.E. (Porph. Vit. Plot., ch. 16; for analysis, see TARDIEU, Gnostiques, p. 503-546). Dating the Greek Vorlagen and tracing the Coptic trans- lations of Zostrianos and the related “Platonizing” Sethian literature from Nag Hammadi (particularly Allogenes [NHC XI,3]) is a controversial and complex undertaking, albeit not germane to the present work. For a pre-Plotinian dating of Zost. and Allogenes, see recently TURNER, Pre-Plotinian Parmenides Commentaries, p. 1131-1172; for a post-Plotinian dating, see most recently MAJERCIK, Porphyry and Gnosticism; for a short summary of scholarship and the issues involved, see BURNS, Apophatic Strategies, p. 177-179. 3 DORESSE, Apocalypses, p. 255-263; FRANKFURTER, Regional Trajectories, p. 151; PEARSON, Gnosticism as Platonism, p. 60; IDEM, From Jewish Apocalypticism, p. 150; IDEM, Ancient Gnosticism, p. 99-100; ABRAMOWSKI, Nicänismus, p. 561; KALER, Flora, p. 146. On Zost. as a “Pagan” apocalypse attempting to appeal to a Hellenically-minded Le Muséon 126 (1-2), 29-43. doi: 10.2143/MUS.126.1.2983533 - Tous droits réservés. © Le Muséon, 2013. 996268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd6268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 2929 11/07/13/07/13 113:593:59 30 D.M. BURNS of its frame narrative and routine investigation of its characters’ back- grounds in Greco-Roman literature leads one to consider instead a milieu for Zostrianos that is deeply colored by contemporary Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, even rejecting the authority of Hellenic tradition. The work begins by describing the anxiety which weighs upon the eponymous seer prior to revelation4: I was in the cosmos for the sake of those of my generation (äot) and those who would come after me, the living elect... I preached forcefully about the entirety to those who had alien parts5. I tried their works (ùbooue) for a little while; thus the necessity of generation brought me into the manifest (world). I was never pleased with them, but always I separated myself from them, since I had come into being through a holy birth. And being mixed, I straightened my soul, empty of evil...6 This Sethian sage is frustrated with others in his community and their “works,” and separated himself from them. He then ponders questions relating to the production of the various strata of being and their rela- tionship to the transcendent first principle7. This leads him to despair: And as I (was) meditating upon these things, so as to understand them, I brought them up daily, according to the custom (twp) of my race (génov), to the God of my fathers (eiote). I blessed them all. For my forefathers and their descendants who sought, (all) found8. But as for me, I did not cease from asking after a place of repose (Mton) worthy of my spirit, without being bound by the sensible world. Finally, I became terribly upset and felt depressed about the small-mindedness that surrounded me. I dared (tólmein) to do something, and to deliver myself unto the beasts of the desert for a violent death9. audience, see SIEBER, Introduction, p. 239; other assignments of this rhetorical trajectory to each of the “Platonizing” Sethian apocalypses (including Zost.) include J.D. TURNER in many studies, such as Introduction: Zostrianos, p. 53; IDEM, Platonic Tradition, p. 292ff; FRANKFURTER, Regional Trajectories, p. 160-161; ATTRIDGE, Apocalyptic Traditions, p. 197, 205; MAZUR, Plotinus’ Mysticism, p. 177, 309 n. 61. 4 All translation of Coptic, Greek, and Latin presented below is my own, except as noted. For Zost., I have consulted the editions of LAYTON – SIEBER, Zostrianos, p. 30-225; BARRY – FUNK – POIRIER, Zostrien, p. 236-481; for commentary on the text, see also TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 483-662. When possible, apocalypses and testaments are cited following the abbreviation, notation, and translations in CHARLESWORTH, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Citations of classical Greek sources correspond to those found in the TLG, abbreviated per the OCD. 5 TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 486, identifies those with “alien parts” as con- trasting the souls who belong to the heavenly world of forms, i.e. the “wholes.” See also PERKINS, Gnostic Dialogue, p. 80-81. 6 Zost. NHC VIII,1.1.5-31. 7 Ibidem, 2.1-3.13. 8 Cf. Mt 7:7-9/Luke 11:9-10; Gos. Thom. log. 2, 92, 94. For discussion, see ATTRIDGE, “Seeking” and “Asking”, p. 295-302. 9 Zost. NHC VIII,1.3.13-28. 996268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd6268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 3030 11/07/13/07/13 113:593:59 THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 31 This passage is deeply coded with Judeo-Christian language. First, while the local ancestral god is never explicitly identified, the title “God of my fathers” is a common Septuagintism for the Jewish deity, as demonstrated by Scopello10. Second, Perkins notes that early Christian sects were com- monly accused by Jews of betraying the “traditions” of “our fathers”11. Third, it is common in Jewish apocalypses for the revelation to arrive when the seer is in a state of emotional turbulence12. One might add that the very site of a desert meditation has a direct parallel in the Apocalypse of Enosh quoted in the Cologne Mani Codex13. Although Zostrianos is alone amongst Jewish seers in asserting that suicide is a viable solution, the interest in beasts devouring men in the desert occurs in the Enochian Similitudes14. The idiom with which Zostrianos speaks about community’s God and his ancestors is rather biblical, without explicitly identifying the com- munity as Jewish or Christian. Rather, he talks in a way that he expects Jews and Christians to understand. The identity of these ancestors and the content of their customs remain uncertain. Scopello has argued that the common reference to the Jewish Patriarchs, “our fathers” is re-constellated in this Sethian context to refer to Seth and his lineage. Turner also identifies the “ancestors” as Sethians, speculating that the “works” and “customs” in question are typical Sethian mythologou- mena, such as the names and powers of the intelligible beings or story of the celestial and terrestrial Adams related in the Apocryphon of John15. The problem with this line of reasoning is that the lineage Zostrianos refers to is unquestionably problematized, driving the seer to self-annihilation. The rest of the treatise contains only positive references to Seth and his “seed,” not to mention lengthy elaborations of traditional Sethian doxol- ogy and ethnically-reasoned soteriology. It is hard to imagine that the community he rejects here is a Sethian one. 10 SCOPELLO, Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 381, followed (with reservations) by WILLIAMS, Immovable Race, p. 85 n. 29. 11 See Ap. John NHC II,1.13-17; John 7:12, 7:47; Just. Mart. Dia. ch. 69; Sanh. 43a, Acts Phil. 19; cit. PERKINS, Gnostic Dialogue, p. 80-82. 12 TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos p. 493, recalls 2 En. 1:3; see also 4 Ezra 3:2-11, 4:12; 2 Bar. 5:1-4; Apoc. Ab. 3, 6; CMC 58.8-16. 13 CMC 52.12-16, noted also by ATTRIDGE, Apocalyptic Traditions, p. 201. Cf. Asc. Is. 4.13. Heraclides’ protagonist Empedotimus (Procl. Comm. Remp. 2:119 [Kroll]) also encountered Hades and Persephone in the desert before attending a final judgment (see COULIANO, Psychanodia, p. 40ff). 14 1 En. 61:5-6. 15 SCOPELLO, Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 382; TURNER, Platonic Tradition, p. 676; IDEM, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 493, 495. 996268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd6268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 3131 11/07/13/07/13 113:593:59 32 D.M. BURNS We are provided with more clues once the scene is rudely interrupted by a visitor: Then, there stood there before me the angel of knowledge of eternal [light].
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