Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/678

 GNOSTICISM

600

GNOSTICISM

portions of this apocryphon are translated in the so- called "Actus Petri cum Simone", and likewise in Sahidic and Slavonic, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions. These fragments have been gathered by Lipsius and Bonnet in "Acta apostolorum apocr." (Leipzig, 1891), I. Though these recensions of the "Acts of Peter" have been somewhat Catholicized, their Gnostic character is unmistakable, and they are of value for Gnostic symbolism. (7) Closely connected with the "Acts of Peter" are the "Acts of Andrew" and the "Acts of John", -which three have perhaps one and the same author, a certain Leucius Charinus, and were WTitten before A. D. 200. They have come down to us in a number of Catholic recensions and in different versions. For the Acts of Andrew see Bonnet, "Acta", as above (189S), II, 1, pp. 1-127; for "Acts of John", ibid., pp. 151-216. To find the primitive Gnostic form in the bewildering variety and multiplic- ity of fragments and modifications is still a task for scholars. (8) Of paramount importance for the un- derstanding of Gnosticism are the "Acts of Thomas", as they have been preserved in their entirety and con- tain the earliest Gnostic ritual, poetry, and specula- tion. They exist in two recensions, the Greek and the Syriac. It seems most likely, though not certain, that the original was Syriac; it is suggested that they were written about a. d. 232, when the relics of St. Thomas were translated to Edessa. Of the greatest value are the two prayers of Consecration, the "Ode to Wisdom" and the "Hymn of the Soul", which are inserted in the Syriac narrative, and which are wanting in the Greek Acts, though independent Greek texts of these passages are extant (Syriac with English translation by W. Wright, " Apocr. Acts of the Apost.", London, 1871). The "Hymn to the Soul" has been translated many times into English, especially, by A. Bevan, "Texts and Studies", Cambridge, 1897; cf. F. Burkitt in "Journal of Theological Studies" (Oxford, 1900). The most complete edition of the Greek Acts is by M. Bonnet in "Acta", as above, II, 2 (Leipzig, 1903; see Bardesanes). The Acts, though written in the service of Gnosticism, and full of the weirdest adventures, are not entirely without an his- torical background.

There are a number of other apocrypha in which scholars have claimed to find traces of Gnostic author- ship, but these traces are mostly vague and unsatis- factory. In connexion with these undoubtedly Gnostic apocrypha mention must be made of the Pseudo- Clementine Homilies. It is true that these are more often classed under Judaistic than under strictly Gnos- tic literature, but their affinity to Gnostic speculations is at least at first sight so close and their connexion with the Book of Elxai (cf. Elcesaites) so generally recognized that theV cannot be omitted in a list of Gnostic writings. If the theory maintained by Dom Chapman in "The Date of the Clementines" (Zeit- schrift f. N. Test. Wiss., 1908) and in the article Clem- entine.'? in The Catholic Encyclopedia be correct, and consequently Pseudo-Clemens be a crypto-Arian who wrote A. D. 330, the "Homilies" might still have at least some value in the study of Gnosticism. But Dom Chapman's theory, though ingenious, is too dar- ing and as yet too unsupported, to justify the omis- sion of the " Homilies" in this place.

A great, if not the greatest, part of Gnostic litera- f tire, which has been saved from the general wreck of Gnostic writings, is preserved to us in three Coptic codices, commonly called the Askew, the Bruce, and the Akhmim Codex. The Askew Codex, of the fifth or sixth century, contains the lengthy treatise "Pistis Sophia", i. e. Faith-Wisdom. This is a work in four books, written between a. d. 2.50 and 300; the fourth book, however, is an adaptation of an earlier work. The first two books describe the fall of the .^on Sophia and her salvation by the JEon Soter; the last two books describe the origin of sin and evil and the

need of Gnostic repentance. In fact the whole is a treatise on repentance, as the last two books only a.pply in practice the example of penance set by Sophia. The work consists of a number of questions and answers between Christ and His male and female disciples in which five "Odes of Solomon", followed by mystical adaptations of the same, are inserted. As the questioning is mostly done by Marv, the Pistis Sophia is probably identical with the "Questions of Mary" mentioned above. The codex also contains extracts from the "Book of the Saviour". The dreary monotony of these writings can only be realized by those who have read them. An English transla- tion of the Latin translation of the Coptic, which itself is a translation of the Greek, was made by G. R. S. Mead (London, 1896). The Bruce papyrus is of about the same date as the Askew vellum codex and contains two treatises: (a) the two books of Jeu, the first specu- lative and cosmogonic, the second practical, viz., the overcoming of the hostile world powers and the secur- ing of salvation by the practice of certain rites; this latter book is styled " Of the Great Logos according to the mystery", (b) A treatise with unknown title, as the first and the last pages are lost. This work is of a purely speculative character and of great antiquity, written between a. d. 150 and 200 in Sethian or Archontian circles, and containing a reference to the prophets Marsanes, Nikotheus, and Phosilanipes. No complete English translations of these treatises exist; some passages, however, are translated in the afore- said G. R. S. Mead's "Fragments of a Faith Forgot- ten". Both the Bruce and Askew Codices have been translated into German by C. Schmidt (1892) in " Texte u. LInters."and (1901) in the Berlin "Greek Fathers". A Latin translation exists of the "Pistis Sophia" by Schwartze and Petermann (Berlin, 1851) and aFrench one of the Bruce Codex by Amelineau (Paris, 1890). The Akhmim Codex of the fifth century, found in 1896, and now in the Egyptian Museum at Berlin, contains (a) a "Gospel of Marj"", called in the subscriptions "An Apocrj'phon of John" ; this Gospel must be of the highest antiquity, as St. Irensus, about a. d. 170, made use of it in his description of the Barbelo-Gnos- tics; (b) a "Sophia Jesu Christi", containing revela- tions of Christ after His Resurrection; (c) a "Praxis Petri", containing a fantastic relation of the miracle worked on Peter's daughter. The study of Gnosticism is seriously retarded by the entirely unaccountable de- lay in the pubHcation of these treatises; for these thir- teen years past we possess only the brief account of this codex published in the " Sitzungsber. d. k. preus. Acad." (Berlin, 1896), pp. 839-847.

This account of Gnostic literature would be incom- plete without reference to a treatise commonly pub- lished amongst the works of Clement of Alexandria and called "Excerpta ex Theodoto". It consists of a number of Gnostic extracts made by Clement for his own use with the idea of future refutation; and, with Clement's notes and remarks on the same, form a very confusing anthology. See O. Bibelius, "Studien zur Gesch. der Valent." in "Zeitschr. f. N. Test. Wiss." (Gies.sen, 1908).

Oriental non-Christian Gnosticism has left us the sacred books of the Mandaeans, viz., (a) the "Genza rab.i" or "Great Treasure", a large collection of mis- cellaneous treatises of different date, some as late, probably, as the ninth, some as early, perhaps, as the third century. The Genza was translated into Latin, by Norberg (Copenhagen, 1817), and the most impor- tant treatises into German, by W'. Brandt (Leipzig, 1892). (b) Kolasta, Hymns and Instructions on bap- tism and the journev of the soul, published in Manda?- an by J. Euting (Stuttgart, 1867). (c) Dnishe d 'Jahya, a biography of John the Baptist "ab utero usque ad tumulum" — as Abraham Echellensis puts it — not pub- lished. Alexandrian non-Christian Gnosticism is per- ceptible in Trismegistic literature, published in Eng-