The mystery of the five seals: Gnostic initiation reconsidered

Vigiliae Christianae

Volumn 51, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 188-206

  Logan, Alastair H B ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 78149294856     PISSN: 00426032     EISSN: 15700720     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157007297X00057     Document Type: Article

References (124)

1. "Sleep and Awakening in Gnostic Texts" in U. Bianchi ed., Le origini dello gnosticismo (Supplements to Numen 12) (Leiden 1967) 468-507, esp. 502.
2. Le dossier baptismale Séthien: Etudes sur la sacramentaire gnostique (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section "Etudes" 2) (Québec 1986) 31-38, cf. also 250-258.
3. NHC XIII 48, 2-35.
4. The text is fragmentary but the reconstructions of J. D. Turner in Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII (Nag Hammadi Studies 28) (Leiden/New York/Copenhagen/Köln 1990) 428, seem plausible.
5. Op. cit. 452-453. But against that interpretation (a) more than five stages are enumerated if you count stripping and giving light/knowledge, and (b) the reception of the seals seems a later, distinct action. The recent sketch by Schenke (now Robinson), "The Trimorphic Protennoia and the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel" in J. E. Goehring et al. eds., Gnosticism & the Early Christian World (Sonoma, Cal. 1990) 37-50, summarises her developed view of the initiation as a five-stage baptism with four gifts bestowed at every stage, and the five seals as five mysterious names with a seal bestowed as each name is called out 41-4), assuming the non-Christian nature of the Sethian group.
6. La Prôumnoia Trimorphe (NH XIII, 1) (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi Section "Textes" 4) (Québec 1978), 80.
7. Cf. NHC III 65, 26-66, 8/IV 78, 1-10. Both are garbled: III reads: "the renunciations of the five seals in the spring baptism" and IV refers to "the baptisms of the renunciation and the ineffable seals of [their] baptism."
8. A. Böhlig and F. Wisse eds., Nag Hammadi Codices III, 2 and IV, 2: The Gospel of the Egyptians (Nag Hammadi Studies 4) (Leiden 1975), 174 with reference to
9. H.-G. Gaffron, Studien zum koptischen Philippusevangelium unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Sakramente, (Bonn 1969).
10. Op. cit. ch. 3 esp. 110-117. The very allusive passage in the Bala'izah Gnostic fragment (see Paul E. Kahle, Bala'izah: Coptic Texts fom Deir El-Bala'izah in Upper Egypt 2 vols. (Oxford 1954) 1.437-477;
11. W. E. Crum, "A Gnostic Fragment," Journal of Theological Studies 44(1943) 176-179), which refers to initiates who partake of Paradise sealing the five powers in silence, and mentions the allegory of the five trees and has John acknowledge his completion of knowledge and a hidden mystery, seems to reflect this initiatory background and understanding: the five trees probably represent five heavenly revealer/redeemer figures. See further below.
12. Cf. e.g. Hermas, Sim. 9, 16, 3-4: "the seal is the water";
13. Clement 6, 9; 7, 6; 8, 6.
14. Adv. haer. 1, 30, 15; 31, 3; 2, 13, 8, 10.
15. 21967) 120 ff. The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1, 45-8 seem to represent an alternative, clearly Jewish-Christian, interpretation of a pre-incarnate anointing of Christ: the tide "Christ," applied to Jewish kings, derives from Christ's primary anointing with oil from the tree of life because he, the true prophet, was to become human, although the Son of God and beginning (initium) of everything. Hence he anoints those pious who reach the kingdom of God after a hard struggle as rest for their labours with similar oil, that their light shine and, filled with the Holy Spirit, they be granted immortality. The composite ointment of Aaron's anointing in Exod. 29 and 30 from which all kings, priests and prophets derive, is an earthly copy of that heavenly pure original, and Christ, anointed a priest then born of the waters, ended priestly, prophetic and kingly chrism.
16. Adv. haer. 1, 21, 2-4;
17. Epiphanius, Pan. 34, 20, 7-8. Note the clear distinction between oil and balsam and the interpretation of the balsam as a type of the sweet savour above all terrestrial things.
18. 1, 21, 5; Epiph. Pan. 36, 2, 4-8.
19. cf. W. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary (Oxford 1972) 362b-363a s.v. stoi.
20. See G. Quispel, "L'inscription de Flavia Sophe," Gnostic Studies 1 (Istanbul 1974), 58-69.
21. Text in CIG IV 594 no. 9595a.
22. Origcn, C. Cels. 6, 27.
23. The number seven spoken by the angels probably refers to the seven archontic spheres to be traversed. Cf. 6, 31. 26 Cf. also Gosp. Phil. NHC II 67, 5, 23-30; 69, 4-14; 74, 12-24;
24. On the Anointing A NHC XI, 240, 8-29.
25. E. Segelberg, "The Baptismal Rite according to some of the Coptic-Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi," F. L. Cross ed., Studia Patristica 5, Part III Liturgica, Monastica et Ascetica (TU 80) (Berlin 1962) 117-128, stresses the centrality of chrism for both the Gospel of Truth (NHC 1, 2), which he interprets as a "confirmation homily" (120), and Gos. Phil.
26. See my Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy (Edinburgh 1996), esp. ch. 2. Note the use in Iren. 1, 21, 3/Epiph. Pan. 34, 20, 3-5 of what are apparently Palestinian Aramaic formulae
27. (cf. H. Gressmann, 'Jüdisch-Aramaisches bei Epiphanius," Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 16(1916) 191-197) which would be in line with the likely Antiochene and Syrian origin of my Gnostics.
28. Cf. Apoc. John BG 29, 18-31, 5/NHC III 9, 10-10, 9;
29. NHC II 6, 10-33;
30. Trim. Prot. NHC XIII 37, 20-38, 10;
31. Gosp. Eg. NHC III 44, 22-24/IV 55, 11-14;
32. Iren. Adv. Haer. 1, 29, 1.
33. Apoc. John BG 26, 15-27, 119 and par; BG 29, 18-31, 5 and par.
34. Cf. BG 64, 14-71, 2 and par.
35. Hippolytus, Ref. 5, 2, 6, 3-4.
36. 5, 10, 1-2. On the Naassenes as members of the same Gnostic sect, see Gnostic Truth 49.
37. Cf. the Hypostasis of the Archons NHC II, 496, 15-97, 21, with a similar concatenation of elements: the True Man (i.e. Christ) in creaturely form, the Spirit of Truth sent by the Father, to teach and anoint with the chrism (xpîcua) of eternal life, resulting in trampling the powers to death and ascending to the Infinite Light, coming to know Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
38. Cf. Iren. Adv. haer. I, 29, 3;
39. Apoc. John BG 34, 19-35, 20 and par; 47, 14-49, 9 and par. However, baptism could have been in the name of the Self-Begotten Son, the Autogenes/Christ;
40. cf. Gosp. Eg. III 66, 22-24
41. and Zostanos NHC VIII, 16, 7-22 where Zostrianos undergoes a series of baptisms in the name of the Self-Begotten God.
42. Cf. Gosp. Eg. III 66, 8-67, 22/IV 78, 10-80, 8.
43. On this cluster of ideas cf. Apocalypse of Adam NHC V, 585, 22-31, which refers to Adam's secret knowledge as the holy baptism of those who know the eternal knowledge through the Logos-begotten and the incorruptible luminaries, who came forth from the holy sowing, Iesseus [Maz]areus [Iesse]dekeus, the [living] water. Iesseus... cannot refer to Jesus who for the Gnostics is a creature of the lower world.
44. Cf. Hipp. Ref. 5, 7, 33; 8, 14-22.
45. Iren. Adv. haer. 1, 21, 3 (see n. 27 on the following Aramaic formulae).
46. For the trinitarian language of the Great Church cf. e.g. Exc. ex Theod. 76, 3-4-a quotation of Matt. 28:19;
47. Gosp. Phil. 67, 9-27.
48. Cf. Clem. Alex. Paed. 2, 8, 62, 3 on as adulterated oil.
49. Cf. e.g. Iren. Adv. haer. 1, 29, 2;
50. Apoc. John BG 35, 20-36, 15; 51, 1-52, 1;
51. Gosp. Eg. III 56, 13-22;
52. Hyp. Arch. 93, 8-end;
53. Zost. 29, 1-20.
54. Note also the guardian angels transmitting the seal in Orig. C. Cels. 6, 27; as suggested above (n. 25), the number seven associated with them probably relates to the seven archontic spheres.
55. Cf. Trim. Prot. 49, 20-32.
56. Hipp. Ref. 5, 10, 2.
57. The enigmatic language of Origen's ascending Ophites, protected by a "spirit of Pronoia and by Sophia" (cf. Apoc. John BG 67, 1-14; II 31, 11-25), who refer to a symbol in the type of life, a superior pentad, or in the type of the tree of life etc. (C. Cels. 6, 31), may be a coded reference to the five seals as such talismans.
58. See Gnostic Truth ch. 2.
59. 2 1970) xv f.;
60. S. P. Brock, "Studies in the Early History of the Syrian Orthodox Baptismal Liturgy," Journal of Theological Studies n. s. 23(1972) 16-64, esp. 24;
61. id., "The Transition to a Post-Baptismal Anointing in the Antiochene Rite" in B. D. Spinks ed., The Sacrifice of Praise (Bibliotheca "Ephemerides Liturgicae" "Subsidia" 19) (Rome 1981) 215;
62. P. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship (London 1992) 163 f.
63. Cf. G. Winkler, "The Original Meaning of the Prebaptismal Anointing and its Implications," Worship 52(1978) 24-45, etc.;
64. Bradshaw, Search 163-171.
65. For the latter cf. Tert. De Bapt. 7, 1-2 (note that he is reacting to Cainite, i.e. Gnostic practice, although he only refers to oil); Cyprian Ep. 70, 2 (again oil, blessed in the eucharist).
66. The Epistles of John (Anchor Bible 30) (London 1983) 342-5.
67. For support of this interpretation see G. Dix, "Confirmation or Laying on of Hands?" (Theology Occasional Papers 5) (London 1936), 10;
68. L. S. Thornton, Confirmation, its Place in the Baptismal Mystery (London 1954) 21;
69. J. Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology (Graecitas Christianorum Primaeva 1) (Nijmegen 1962) 263.
70. To interpret the order Spirit, water, blood in 1 John 5:7 f. as referring to pre-baptismal unction, baptism and the eucharist, as suggested by e.g. T. W. Manson, "Entry into Membership of the Early Church" Journal of Theological Studies 48(1947) 25-33 etc., might seem at first sight plausible, in the light of later Syrian evidence (see however the criticisms of Brown, Epistles 583 f., and Lampe, Seal 87-91 and my own proposals below).
71. Cf. 69-71, 104-106, 112-114. L. L. Mitchell, Baptismal Anointing (Alcuin Club Collections 48) (London 1966) 50, sees the spirit of 1 John underlying the Syrian rites and their order over against false gnostics.
72. See Gnostic Truth ch. 2.
73. In British Library Oriental MS 9271. For the text see C. Schmidt, "Das koptische Didache-Fragment des British Museum" Zeitschrift für die neutestamentlkhe Wissenschaft 24(1925) 84 f.;
74. L.-Th. Lefort, Les pères apostoliques en copte (CSCO 135 Scriptores Coptici 17) (Louvain 1952) 32;
75. F. Stanley Jones & Paul A. Mirecki, "Considerations on the Coptic Papyrus of the Didache (British Library Oriental Manuscript 9271) " in C. N. Jefford ed., The Didache in Context: Essays on its Text, History and Transmission (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 11) (Leiden 1995) 52.
76. See M. Metzger, Les constitutions apostoliques 1 (Sources chrétiennes 320) (Paris 1985) 54-61.
77. Cf. Didasc. apost. 9 and 16;
78. Ap. Con. 7, 22, 44, 1-3; 2, 32, 3; 3, 16-17. On the evident problems see Metzger, op. cit. 94.
79. "Uber einige Probleme der Didache-Uberlieferung" in Frühkirche, Judentum und Gnosis (Rome/Freiburg/Vienna 1959) 156-167.
80. "The So-Called Ointment Prayer in the Coptic Version of the Didache: A Reevaluation," Harvard Theological Review 70(1977), 67-84. His argument centres on stinoufi which he claims means incense, not myrrh, which the compiler of Ap. Con. misunderstood and converted to the myron prayer familiar to him. But, as suggested above (n. 66), such a prayer and rite was new, causing him difficulty in explaining its rationale, since its link with the Spirit now applied to pre-baptismal chrism (cf. 3, 17; 7, 22, 2; 2, 32, 3), and as we shall see, stinoufi can translate. In any case Gero's interpretation of 10 in terms of a meal is dubious and his explanation in terms of incense implausible: in what sense can incense be said to have been made known through Jesus?
81. See K. Niederwimmer, "Textprobleme der Didache," Wiener Studien NF 16(1982) 120 f.
82. Die Didache (Kommentar zür apostolischen Väter 1) (Göttingen 1995) 205-209.
83. Cf. J.-P. Audet, La Didachè: Instructions des Apôtres (Etudes Bibliques) (Paris 1958) 68;
84. A Vööbus, Liturgical Traditions in the Didache (Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile 16) (Stockholm 1968) 53 f.
85. "Textprobleme" 121 f.
86. For the suggestion that earlier Egyptian initiation practice echoed or followed Syrian in having only pre-baptismal anointing cf. G. Kretschmar, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Liturgie, insbesondere der Taufliturgie, in Aegypten," Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie 8(1963) 43 ff.;
87. Bradshaw, "Baptismal Practice in the Alexandrian Tradition, Eastern or Western?" in P. Bradshaw ed., Essays in Early Eastern Initiation (Alcuin/GROW Liturgical Study 8) (Nottingham 1988) 15 f.
88. See Journal of Theological Studies n. s. 45(1994) 309.
89. However, Vööbus, Traditions 56, had already commented on the awkwardness of such a correlation. Hall does not commit himself on the genuineness of the prayer or what the stinoufi might represent.
90. The reference to the "immortal aion" is an evident echo of the "immortality" of the latter. Notice his attempt to bolster Ignatius' apostolic credentials in 7, 46, 4: Ignatius appointed second bishop of Antioch by Paul. Cf. Ps. Ign. Ant. 7, 1.
91. See the suggestion of the latter by E. C. Ratcliff, "The Old Syrian Baptismal Tradition and its Resetdement under the Influence of Jerusalem in the Fourth Century," Studies in Church History 2(1965) 19.
92. Moreover the archaic Christology of the prayer ("Jesus your child (shēri/) ") and subordination implied (the anointed is subordinate to the anointer) might also have proved attractive to the compiler. Its absence in John Chrysostom, writing in Antioch not long afterwards, can be explained by the justifiable assumption that the Ap. Con.compiler was a member of an Arian or non-Nicene community. Conversely, Chrysostom's use of as a mixture of oil and, the latter interpreted in terms of his overarching bridal symbolism (cf. Cat. horn. 2. 22: Wenger SC 50 145, and Cat. horn. 3.27
93. A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Varia graeca sacra (St. Petersburg 1909) 173
94. P. W. Harlans, St. John Chrysostom: Baptismal Instructions (ACW 31) (Westminster, Mind/London 1963) 169), might represent his appropriation of the developing use of in Antioch.
95. On stinoufi as a combination of stoei + noufe and rendering of the eùcoôia of 2 Cor. 2:15, see Crum, Dictionary 362b s.v. stoi. In any case the compiler clearly understood the prayer to refer to, as is corroborated by the Ignatian allusion.
96. "Probleme" 167.
97. Cf. Dix, "Confirmation" 6.
98. Ep. 70, 2.
99. The omission of any reference to chrismation in the baptismal section of the Didache, an objection of Audet, Didache 68 n. 3, could be countered by suggesting that the likely imitation of Jesus' baptism (echoing Matt. 3:16 f.? Note the threefold formula of Matt. 28:19) and the anointing of his head with (in Matt. 26:7) underlying the rite and the prayer would suggest chrismation with after baptism, a simple act not needing to be spelt out, unlike the water baptism, for which the gospel account offers no guidance.
100. Further, the chrismation might have taken place apart from the baptismal site, when the baptised joined the community for the eucharist, cf. Canons of Hippolytus 19.
101. Ad Autol. 1, 12.
102. His analogies suggest a more Hellenistic view of oil for all-over cleansing and may attest indirecdy the transition to the cathartic/exorcistic view of the later Syrian tradition. Cf. Acts of Thomas 25-7; 121; 132; 157;
103. Ps. Clem. Ree. 3, 67, 4 etc.
104. For evidence of Western use of myrrh (or a mixture of oil and myrrh) after baptism, cf. Hipp. Comm. in Dan. 1, 16, 3;
105. Tert. De bapt. 7 (but the reference is to oil, not myrrh or a myrrh-oil mixture).
106. Cf. the continual stress in Act. Thom, (e.g. 25; 27; 120; 132; 157) on Jesus' Messiahship in the context of initiation, but with almost no allusion to his baptism.
107. For Christ as first anointed by the Father with oil from the tree of life and thus called "Christ," cf. Ps. Clem. Rec. 1, 45;
108. for the episcopal chrismating of baptisands on the head as O. T. priests were anointed, to make them Christians from Christ, with holy oil as a type of spiritual baptism (i.e. the original chrismation of Christ) cf. Ap. Con. 3, 16, 3-4.
109. It is only later Syrian commentators (e.g. John Chrysostom, Cat. hom. 3, 13: Papadopoulos-Kerameus/Harkins ACW 164) who see our initiation as modelled on Jesus' baptism, while Cyril of Jerusalem (Myst. cat. 3, 2) buttresses his support for post-baptismal chrismation with myrrh by identifying Jesus' chrismation with the descent of the Spirit ("intelligible 'oil of gladness' ") after his baptism.
110. Cf. Brock, "Transition" 216, 220-223;
111. Cyr. Jer. Myst. cat. 3, 1 f.;
112. Ap. Con. 3, 16, 2-4;
113. Theod. Mops. Cat. hom. 14, 27
114. (R. Tonneau & R. Devresse, Les homélies catéché tiques de Théodore de Mopsueste (Studi e Testi 149) (Vatican City 1949) 457/
115. A. Mingana, Woodbrooke Studies 6 (Cambridge 1933) p68 f.).
116. For a similar development in Egypt cf. Can. Hipp. 19;
117. Sarapion, Sacr. 15 and 16.
118. Cf. her "From Alexandria to Rome: The Valentinian Connection to the Incorporation of Exorcism as a Pre-baptismal Rite," Vigiliae Christianae 44(1990) 6-24.
119. Myst. cat. 3, 1 ff.
120. Chrysostom is aware of the term (see n. 74 above) but applies it to the prebaptismal anointing, while the reference in Theodore of Mopsuestia (Cat. hom. 14, 27), has been disputed. See Bradshaw, Search 122.
121. Pan. 40, 2, 6-8.
122. Note that the Cainites, a sect of my Gnostics (cf. Iren. Adv. haer. 1, 31, 1) attacked by Tertullian (De bapt. 1, 2), also rejected water baptism. Cf. Apoc. Adam 84, 4-85, 18.
123. Cf. Pan. 40, 2, 9-3, 6: note the reference to, the gloss of as balsam or nard and the order bath and perfume, suggesting the Cyrilline order and ingredient: baptism followed by chrismation with.
124. Cf. Myst. cat. 3, 3 f.