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The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism* One of The THE PHENOMENON AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GNOSTIC SETHIANISM* One of the most important insights bestowed upon us by the Nag Hammadi Library comes in the form of the discovery, or rather the elucidation, of a variety of Gnosticism that may be well compared to Valentinianism in both extent and historical importance.1 In the Nag Hammadi codices, there exists a constellation of texts that clearly stand apart as a relatively close-knit group (no matter how much they may also be related to other Nag Hammadi writings). Clear membership in the group is enjoyed not only by the texts that are central to it, but also by those that are periph- eral. This text group includes: • T he Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1; III,1; IV,1; plus the BG version and the parallel in Irenaeus Adv. haer. 1.29) • The Hypostasis of the Archons (II,4) • The Gospel of the Egyptians (III,2; IV,2) • The Apocalypse of Adam (V,5) • The Three Steles of Seth (VII,5) • Zostrianos (VIII,1) • Melchizedek (IX,1) • The Thought of Norea (IX,2) • Marsanes (X) • Allogenes (XI,3) • The Trimorphic Protennoia (XIII) In the light of the text group mentioned above, still other texts can be seen to belong to this variety of Gnosticism. Of original Gnostic writings, these are (besides the aforementioned version of BG,2) the Untitled Trea- tise of the Codex Brucianus; and from the domain of anti-heretical lite- rature (besides the system of Irenaeus Adv. haer. 1.29 mentioned above), * In: B. Layton (ed.), The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnosticism at Yale, Bd. 2: Sethian Gnosticism, SHR 41,2, Leiden 1981, 588–616. 1 Heartfelt thanks are due to my colleague and friend Bentley Layton for translating this paper into English. 502 essays the doctrines of the so-called Gnostics, Sethians, and Archontics of Epi- phanius (Haer. 26.39.40). The texts of this group shed light upon one another if compared synoptically; and the proportion and relationship of common, shared material to special, unique material permits a process of deduction that leads to considerable insight not only into the development of the teach- ing they contain, but also into the history of the community that trans- mitted them. One instance of how these texts illuminate one another is the way cer- tain shadowy figures suddenly spring to life. Thus in the Hypostasis of the Archons we unexpectedly encounter the light-giver Eleleth—who in most texts of our group looks like a long-dead component of the system—as a surprisingly lively savior and revealer (p. 93,2ff.). In the Gospel of the Egyptians and the Trimorphic Protennoia, he is even the luminous being who gives rise to the origin of the lower world (NHC III p. 56,22ff. = IV p. 68,5ff.; XIII p. 39,13ff.). Also Youel, “the one pertaining to all the glories,”2 who according to the Gospel of the Egyptians is merely the consort of the thrice-male child3 (= divine Autogenes = celestial Adamas),4 plays a lead- ing role as giver of revelation in Allogenes (NHC XI p. 50,20; 52,14; 55,18. 34; 57,25). An outline of my view of this phenomenon, based on a lecture deliv- ered in 1971,5 has already been published. It is not my intention to bring up what was said before—to the extent that it still seems correct. Rather, I should like to make certain additions, to shift the emphasis somewhat, and to stress certain points that have become important in the interim, generally approaching the same topic from a slightly different perspective and in a more fundamental way. Although both major and minor issues are interesting and important in our text group—and there are problems of both general and very specific import—I would stress that its special significance lies largely in the fact that it is also limited, and therefore constitutes a readily surveyable field of observation, which we can use as 2 The strange stereotyped epithet ⲧⲁⲛⲓⲉⲟⲟⲩ ⲧⲏⲣⲟⲩ probably renders only a single Greek adjective, probably something like πανένδοξος. 3 I no longer hold to my former understanding of ϣⲟⲙ̄ⲛ̅ ⲛ̄ϩⲟⲟⲩⲧ ⲛ̄ⲁⲗⲟⲩ (and the like) as “Dreimännerkind,” NTS 16 (1969) 197 n. 1; Studia Coptica (below, n. 5), 170; this was an exegetical exaggeration. 4 Cf. further the Untitled Treatise from Codex Brucianus (ed. Baynes) p. 18,29; 48,3; Zost. p. 53,14; 54,17; 63,11; 125,14. 5 H.-M. Schenke, “Das sethianische System nach Nag-Hammadi-Handschriften,” in: P. Nagel (ed.), Studia Coptica, BBA 45, Berlin 1974, 165–173..
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