by Nuvoadam

What gave Gnostic texts their authority? Each tractate cites predecessors — some surviving, some lost — as the foundation of its claims. This post by Nuvoadam, written in October 2003 on alt.religion.gnostic, traces those chains of textual priority: the lost books of Noraia, the Book of Zoroaster embedded in the Apocryphon of John, the role of Dositheus and Simon Magus as the earliest western Gnostic authorities, and the question of what "Gnostic" even means — two competing definitions that scholars and practitioners have argued about ever since. It also places Western Gnosticism in its Alexandrian context, where Buddhist missionaries, Hermetic scribes, Jewish apocrypha, and Greek mystery traditions fused in the library that Alexander built to contain the world.

This is a repost of some information I supplied recently. I thought it might stand on its own as a thread others might wish to add to concerning Gnostic priority and authority. If one digs through the Gnostic texts they will find hints of prior texts which the western Gnostics are leaning upon to give their own platforms more authority. This priority of these previous texts, some of which remain undiscovered, may be indicative of how the western Gnostics came about their ideas, and why, and where.

Many if not all of the apocryphal books were penned by Gnostic-minded people living over a century after Jesus' era. The Ascension of Isaiah for example. The pseudepigraphal works were mainly penned starting around 200 BCE to 200 CE. The Books of Enoch are a good pseudepigraphal example of Gnostic-al writings.

What Is a "Gnostic" Writing?

There is no such thing as a writing which is "fully gnostic in nature," because the definition of what "Gnostic" is has ever been up for debate, even by those few groups we know to have used the name for themselves, and the handful of others we believe used the name because they are accused of such by their Church attackers.

To explain the critical point — what is the "nature" of a Gnostic writing? According to some, they would be characterized by a belief in a big bad evil Demiurge. According to others, the true nature of Gnostic writings would be found in the simple recognition that this world is dualistic, or Maya-illusive, and that rather than faith, it is only absolute knowledge which will bring us the emancipation of Gnostic salvation. There were centers of Gnostical thought, often in direct and bitter competition with each other for enquiring minds.

If one is going to step back and squint their eyes, then yes, Gnosticism is a tree, and yes, it had what can loosely be called roots. But Western Gnosticism never was its own entity. That's why there was never an orthodox definition of Gnosticism beyond the agreement that duality and self-suffering could only be ended through Knowledge-of-self and not through Faith-in-other.

Some will be looking for the first documents depicting an evil-bad Creator figure. Others will be looking for the first Gnostic-type documents depicting a dualistic Maya-world and thereafter suggesting something to be done about it which will lead to self-discovery. Two very different ideas of what Gnostic "nature" really means.

The Authority Chains in the Nag Hammadi

Be mindful of what Gnostic texts use for their own authority. On the Origin of the World refers to some undiscovered older source documents such as "The First Logos of Noraia," probably also "The First Book of Noraia." Also it refers to "The Book of Solomon," probably one of the pseudepigraphal Solomon works by Philo of Alexandria, some of which were composed just before Jesus was born. Also "The Schemata of the Heimarmene of the Heaven Which is Beneath the Twelve," and then there is "The Seventh Cosmos of Hieralaias the Prophet."

The Hypostasis of the Archons quotes Paul in Eph. 6:12, but this doesn't mean that it was a work contemporary to Paul's era. This being said, I have seen at least one exploration that this work could be attributed to Paul or even to his master Gamaliel. In a round-about way, the Gnostic work called the Pistis Sophia (Faith-Knowledge) is mentioned. The Sophia works are sometimes thought to be of Valentinian origin.

The Apocalypse of Adam is an example of a newer work which has a distinctly older feel to it. It can only be termed a Sethian tractate in the sense that it was supposedly first compiled by Adam's son Seth (in Adam's "seven-hundredth year") as a warning about the Elohim (Gnostic Archons). I would look closely into this kind of Gnostical tractate. This is the same kind of mythos that Gamaliel, Paul, and especially Dositheus were tapping into in order to repackage it as a purely Gnostical work.

The Apocalypse of Adam may be grouped together with Zostrianos, The Gospel of the Egyptians, Allogenes, and Marsanes in works generally called Sethian. Also we may add the Epistle of Eugnostos, The Sophia of Jesus, and The Book of Norea to this group. These documents seem to use stories like the Vitae of Adam and Eve as the foundation for their authority.

Dositheus and the Three Steles of Seth

In a text we loosely call The Three Steles of Seth, the revelation is attributed to Dositheus. This would be one of the earliest Western Gnostical texts if this is true. The "Three Steles" are mythological stone markers scribed by Adam's son himself and left on a mountaintop to survive the flood. Dositheus claims to have found them but does not tell us where. Apparently his information has been challenged because we look to Dositheus' opening statements and find the excuse for his authority included in the prelude: "he (Dositheus) saw and understood. And after he had read them, he remembered them. And he gave them to the elect, just as they are inscribed there."

I suggest picking up The Nag Hammadi Library, edited by James Robinson. This contains his short elucidations on each work in the Nag Hammadi, and reveals that they are mostly Valentinian and Neoplatonist, suggesting a much later date for the library's creation and burial than many of us wanted to accept at first.

The Book of Zoroaster and the Syncretic Core

Also, in The Secret Book of John for instance we find the Sethian works attributed to Dositheus mentioned with the name "Pigeradamas," who appoints his son Seth over an eternal realm. Here are the biblical Adam and his son Seth turned into mythological figures. In The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, Adam as Pigeradamas is shortened to "Geradamas" and Seth is called "Emmacha Seth."

In the middle of this Nag Hammadi work in the name of John, we are presented with a long list of angel-names which is very Zoroastrian. As in Alexandrian Valentinianism, the number 365 is present as a total for the number of Archon-Angels who each contribute some part of their genetic material to the creation of man. And then, right when we are suspicious of syncretism of an epic order, pseudo-John sources his authority: "There are other angels over the remaining passions, and I have not told you about them. If you want to know about them, the information is recorded in the Book of Zoroaster."

Simon Magus, Philo, and the Oldest Sources

If one is looking for the oldest works which may be called both Western Gnostic-in-type and Western Gnostic-in-subject, then one is looking for Philo and Simon Magus. The work The Great Declaration (Apophasis megale) was ascribed to Simon, and the Pseudo-Clementines also present his teaching in detail.

If one is looking for the oldest documents which may be called both Gnostic-in-type and Gnostic-in-subject in the sense that they address a dualistic self-suffering alongside suggested techniques to transcend matter, then one is looking for the Hindu Vedas, early Buddhist works, the Tao Te Ching, and other Eastern Gnostical works. Lao Tzu once claimed to have seen early Shang Dynasty documents concerning The Way, which he taught to others. This was all around 600–500 BC, a time when the east records as the era of a thousand Schools — a period of enlightenment which had a counterpart in Greece, among other places.

For a solid source of Jewish pseudepigrapha, Christian apocrypha, Gnostic scriptures, Kabbalah and the Dead Sea Scrolls, I suggest The Other Bible, edited by Willis Barnstone.

Colophon

Written by Nuvoadam, posted to alt.religion.gnostic, October 2003. Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Nuvoadam was the most prolific theological contributor to alt.religion.gnostic from 2003 onward, with over 1,500 posts spanning Hermetic and Gnostic cosmology, Alexandrian religious history, and comparative mysticism. This post is a systematic treatment of Gnostic textual authority — one of the more scholarly pieces to appear on the newsgroup.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲