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The Figure of Melchizedek in the First Tractate of the Unpublished Coptic-Gnostic Codex Ix from Nag Hammadi

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The Figure of Melchizedek in the First Tractate of the Unpublished Coptic-Gnostic Codex Ix from Nag Hammadi THE FIGURE OF MELCHIZEDEK IN THE FIRST TRACTATE OF THE UNPUBLISHED COPTIC-GNOSTIC CODEX IX FROM NAG HAMMADI BIRGER A. PEARSON The first tractate of Codex IX of the Nag Hammadi library1 is clearly a very important document of "Christian" Gnosticism. Would that it were complete! As it is, not a single page from this document is completely preserved. Of the approximately 745 lines which this text comprised (1, 1-27, 10) only 130 are either completely extant or have been conjecturally restored. An addi­ tional 318 lines are partially extant or restored. Thus it is impos­ sible to understand fully the contents of this tractate, or even the meaning and context of some obviously important sections. Nevertheless it is possible to ascertain generally the position of this document in the development of Gnosticism as we know it from other texts. In thought-world, and particularly in its refer­ ence to key aeonic figures of the gnostic heavenly population, it resembles such other gnostic documents as the Apocryphon of John/ the Gospel of the Egyptians, 3 the Three Steles of Seth,4 * This article is an abbreviated version of the paper read at the Congress in Stock· holm. It has also been partially revised to take into account advances made over the past three years in the study of the text with which it is concerned. Pagination and placement of the major fragments of this text have been ascertained, and additional conjectural restorations have been made, largely on the basis of study of the original manuscript in the Coptic Museum, Cairo. 1 The thirteen codices from Nag Hammadi now carry the designation "CG" (= Cairensis Gnosticus); cf. "BG" (= Berolinensis Gnosticus 8502, ed. W. Till and H. -M. Schenke, TU 602 , Berlin, 1972). See J. M. Robinson, "The Coptic Gnostic Library Today," New Testament Studies 14 (I968), 356-401. The Nag Hammadi Codices are currently being published in a multi-volume Facsimile Edition (Leiden, I972-), and a. complete English edition is in preparation under the auspices of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California, under the general editorship of J .M. Robinson. This edition will be published in the series, "Nag Hammadi Studies" by Brill in Leiden. CG IX will be published in a volume edited by the writer of this article. For a complete bibliography on the Nag Hammadi library, see D. Scholer, Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1948-1969 (Leiden, I971), annually sup­ plemented in Novum Testamentum by Scholer. 2 BG, 2; CG II, I; III, I; IV, 1. Ed. Till-Schenke, op. cit., and M. Krause,pie drei Versionen des Apokryphon des johannes im Koptischen Museum zu Alt-Kairo (Wies­ baden, I962). B. A. PEARSON - MELCHIZEDEK IN CODEX IX NAG HAMMADI 201 Zostrianos, 5 the Apocalypse of Adam, 6 and the Discourses on the Three Appearances. 7 In one aspect, however, it is unique amongst the Nag Hammadi documents, for it features as the key personage none other than the ancient Canaanite priest-king Mel­ chizedek, of course in a highly mutated form! The title of the tractate itself (extant on a small fragment from page 1) is "Mel­ chizedek. " 8 It is also noteworthy that Jesus Christ is prominent in this document, apparently standing alongside of Melchizedek as a redeemer figure. It is clear that the roles of Jesus Christ and of Melchizedek are closely intertwined in this text. In fact it is not out of the question that the two are actually identified with one another. Certainty on this question is, unfortunately, not possible. The incipit occurs on the same small fragment as the title, and reads, "Jesus Christ, the Son [of God ... ]. " In the fragments that follow reference is made to the ministry and sufferings of Jesus, and in a remarkable passage from a relatively complete page (p. 5} an "anti-docetic" polemic is directed at those (other gnos­ tics?) who deny the reality of the incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. A "liturgical" passage follows which consists of an invocation of the divine hierarchy, of which Jesus Christ is now a part. In a subsequent passage, very fragmentary, it is apparently affirmed that the gnosis concerning heavenly secrets is reserved for "the race of the High Priest" (6, 17), presumably the same group as the "congregation of [the Children] of Seth" mentioned on the previous page (5, 19 f.). Since the "High Priest" in our document is Melchizedek, we can conclude that the treatise arose in a "Melchizedekian" branch of "Sethian" Gnosticism. The figure of Melchizedek occurs in contexts having to do 3 CG III, 2 and IV, 2. The version in CG III has beep published by J. Doresse, "'Le Livre sacre du grand Esprit invisible' ou 'L'evangile des Egyptiens': Texte copte Cdite, traduit et commente d'apres Ia Codex I de Nag'a-Hamrnadi/Khenoboskion," Journal Asiatique 254 (1966), 317-435. (Doresse's numbering system for the codices is differ­ ent from that which has become standard). 4 CG VII, 5, published thus far only in The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices (Leiden, 1972). 5 CG VIII, 1, unpublished. 6 CG V, 5. Ed. A. Bi:ihlig, Koptisch-gnostische Apokalypsen aus Codex Vvon Nag Hammadi im Koptischen Museum zu Alt-Kairo (Halle-Wittenberg, 1963). 7 CG Xlii, 1, published thus far only in the Facsimile Edition (Leiden, 1973). 8 [.M.O~~!~[(!.~(!.l{] ), with title decorations. .
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