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Terminology in the Nag in Manichaean Literature

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Terminology in the Nag in Manichaean Literature The Religious Terminology in the Nag Hammadi Texts and in Manichaean Literature Paul Van Lindt Alexandria, the city in the Nile Delta, founded offered as answers to the social problems of by Alexander the Great, is considered the cul­ late antiquity, the same basic interest can be ex­ tural centre of the Roman Near East in late an­ trapolated in the different roots and manners tiquity. It was renowned for its philosophical of exposition. In all three the accent is on the schools, and the main scholars of Late Antiquity effort to reach true life through personal per­ lived or studied there: Philo, Ammonius Sac- ception and on a clear distinction between cas, Plotinus, Clement, Origen: Alexandria was good and evil, light and darkness. It is incredi­ the focus of the ancient world. ble how such a small region could host all these Still, it was in the neighbourhood of the groups within such a short span of time, for the small town of Lycopolis - present-day Assyut - anti-Manichaean treatise dates from the end of in Upper Egypt that the major innovating the third century and the Medinet Madi and philosophical and theological texts of the third Nag Hammadi codices are from the fourth century were found. In Greek has been pre­ century. The problem of the dating of the texts served the anti-Manichaean treatise by Alexan­ will be enlarged upon later on. der of Lycopolis, the neo-platonist. It is one of Evidently, in such a limited space these dif­ the earliest neo-platonic writings. He tried to ferent groups would have met and interacted. defend his philosophical school against the un­ The only historical proof we have of this is the dermining work of Manichaean missionaries anti-Manichaean writing by Alexander in who seemed successfull in their conversion pol­ which he complains of the Manichaean mis­ icy. sionaries troubling his students. There must Although the Manichaean Coptic texts pre­ also have been contacts between the Nag Ham- sented on the Cairo antiquity market in 1929, madi-community and the Manichaeans, al­ were discovered in Medinet Madi the dialect of though these contacts have not yet been ac­ these texts clearly indicated that their prove­ counted for. nance - or at least the dialect of the scribe - Since Manichaeism is sometimes defined as could be traced back to the environs of Ly­ the ‘ultimate’ Gnostic religion2, it would be of copolis; the dialect has been classified by Kass­ interest to compare these local sources of the er as a form of Lycopolitan, L41. Sixteen years same period and in almost the same dialect. later in the same region the ‘Gnostic’ Nag However before making such a comparison, an Hammadi library was found. The major part of agreement must be found as to which elements which was written in the L6 dialect. are to be compared. As such the very title of In spite of the fact that clear differences can this paper involves a problem. The two pro­ be distinguished between the solutions, which posed elements, on the one hand the Nag Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism and Manichaeism Hammadi texts and on the other hand the 192 HfS 26 Manichaean literature, are situated on two dif­ Geographical aspects ferent levels: the Nag Hammadi texts are only a Another problem connected with the termino­ partial - and late - witness to the ‘Gnostic’ tra­ logical comparison is the geographical origin dition3, while the Manichaean literature repre­ of the texts. Already within the Medinet Madi sents a complete theological system with sources library different ‘terminological’ traditions can which have been found in such various places be observed. In my view, the differences be­ as France and China and which date from the tween the Psalm-book and the Kephalaia, al­ third until the fifteenth centuries. though the texts were translated into the same Two levels of comparison could be consid­ dialect, can only be explained by the fact that ered: one could either compare the basic sys­ the writings were composed in different com­ tems level of‘Gnosticism’ and Manichaeism or munities. focus on the Coptic tradition of both. Here we The Nag Hammadi library poses an even will focus on the Coptic Nag Hammadi texts greater problem: While some texts seem to be of and the Coptic Manichaica, giving considera­ Egyptian origin, others refer to Syria,Jordan and tion to the problems of dating, geography and other regions of the Near East. In most cases, language. however, a place of origin cannot be established. Dating Language The fact that Manichaean literature was pro­ Both libraries consist mainly of translated texts: duced over a long span of time is not the only influences were possible either during the problem concerning the dating of the differ­ composition of the original texts, or during ent texts. A precise dating of the Coptic translation when terminology was borrowed Manichaica is not yet possible; perhaps the Kel- from either tradition. Especially in Manichae­ lis-texts will yield more information, but in the ism this technique of transliteration was used meantime we can only approximately date the for missionary activities7. We will elaborate this Medinet Madi texts to the fourth century4. As element later. The problem, however, is the dif­ they were composed at the end of the third ficulty in establishing the direction of the pos­ century5 at the earliest, the Coptic manuscripts sible influence during translation, as we lack were written only a short period after. information on the manuscripts. This is certainly not true for some of the Nag As regards the language of the libraries, the Hammadi texts. While these manuscripts also Coptic dialect of both the Nag Hammadi and can be said to date back to the fourth century, Medinet Madi texts has been studied and com­ the origin of most of the texts must be found in pared in detail by Kasser and Funk8. Both ex­ the second or third centuries or even as early as amined the phonological and morphological the first century B.C.6. The manuscripts thus data in particular. They reached, however, represent a long literary tradition. slightly different conclusions. According to In general we can state that both libraries Kasser, L6 and L4 are different evolutions of were copied in the same century. It can not yet the same dialect through several generations9. be determined which was the earlier. On the Funk is more radical: according to him, L6 and other hand most of the original Gnostic manu­ L4 are separate dialects, and L4 is not related scripts are earlier than the Manichaean, but any closer to L6 than it is to Akhmimic10. the possibility that some of them are contem­ Again, the Kellis texts will hopefully bring porary can not be excluded. some new information. HfS 26 193 A final element that complicates the com­ Rudolph discovers a resemblance of charac­ parison between the Nag Hammadi and ter between the Manichaean ‘Mother of Life’ Medinet Madi libraries is Mani’s marked Gnos- and Barbêlo in the “Apocryphon of John” and tic-Christian formation, caused by his being ed­ the “Three Steles of Seth”, the ‘Sophia-Zoe’ in ucated by the Elchasaites. Earlier research has the Sophia of Jesus Christ and the heavenly Eve already established that Mani had knowledge in “On the Origin of the World” who is also of several ‘Gnostic’ works and that he bor­ called ‘Mother of the Living’. The Light-Maid­ rowed many elements from Jewish-Christian lit­ en resembles the Gnostic Sophia even more erature. Considering all the above aspects, it is and she is also called thus, as well as ‘Mother of clear that a comparison of the religious termi­ all the Living’18. nology in general is a hazardous project. From a terminological point of view one can observe that in the Coptic Manichaica the name “The Mother of Life” is predominantly Related terminology employed rather than “The Mother of the Liv­ The related elements between the Nag Ham­ ing” although the Syrian name ’m’ dhÿ’ can be madi library and Manichaeism have already translated both ways19. The former form is not been treated twice by Rudolph11. He pointed found in the Gnostica. As I have already point­ out that most links were found in the so-called ed out elsewhere, Mani might have been influ­ Sethian literature: “On the Origin of the enced by Gnosticism in his choice of the name, World”, “The Hypostasis of the Archons”, without favouring either the singular or plural “The Apocryphon of John”, “The Sophia of form, but the Egyptian Manichaeans certainly Jesus Christ”, “The Apocalypse of Adam”, wanted to establish their Goddess’s own identi­ “The Three Steles of Seth” and “The Para­ ty. The same goes for the relation between the phrase of Shem”12. He also commented on Mother-goddess and the Spirit which is found the similarity of terminology between Greek in the Gnostic as well as in the Manichaean and Coptic: ‘Auch die Gemeinsamkeit in der sources, but the terminology employed differs Verwendung der Terminologie ist auffällig, sei slightly20. Still, the few examples of the plural es im Griechischen oder sei es im Koptischen. form “The Mother of the Living”, can be a re­ Die benachbarten Ubersetzerschulen in Mit­ sult of Gnostic influence. The short form “The telägypten sind dafür nicht allein verant­ Mother”, which is often used in Gnostic texts wortlich zu machen’13. Rudolph then enumer­ for the Mother-goddess appears only in the ates the different common concepts. Here we Psalm-Book. will discuss only those of terminological signif­ Certainly of Gnostic origin is “The Maiden icance.
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