Apocryphal books (New Testament); Christian heresies -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Gnosticism
The INTERPOLATED FRAGMENT which occupies most of the first leaf of the
Third Document is entirely taken up with the relation of the Ineffable
one to His “members”; but is too short and disconnected to give us much
information on the subject. It is put into the mouth of Jesus and it
makes allusion to other revelations which Jesus is said to have
previously made or “written,” or which He promises. The style is not
unlike that of the First Document, so that I do not see why it may not
be an extract from the same book if, as may be probable, Jesus continued
in it the account of His upward journey after leaving Pistis Sophia in
the thirteenth Æon.[28]
* * * * *
The THIRD DOCUMENT may perhaps be called without fear of contradiction
“Part of the Books of the Saviour,” because it bears that title both at
its head and at its foot. It begins by an exhortation to the disciples
to preach “to the whole world” a series of ἀποτάγματα or renunciations
of sin which may be connected with Jesus’ speech to Andrew at the end of
the Second Document. It should be noted, however, that while in the
Second Document mankind is to be entreated to renounce the world and its
matter so that they may “go unto the Light,” the author of this Document
presses them to abjure sin lest they suffer the torments of hell. These
torments are also dealt with in considerable detail, and we can gather
from the description that there are four Places of Punishment called
respectively Amente, Chaos, the Middle Way, and the Outer Darkness.[29]
This seems to be a sort of amalgam of different traditional beliefs, for
while Amente appears in the _Book of the Dead_, Chaos in the First
Document does not seem to be thought of as necessarily a Place of
Punishment, and we have seen Pistis Sophia speaking of it in the Second
Document as “the world of men.” So, too, the location of these different
hells shows some confusion of thought. Amente is probably in the West or
beyond the earth as it is in the _Book of the Dead_, Chaos is either the
earth itself or beneath it, while the Middle Way is, like the Place of
Punishment in the Enochian literature, in the firmament or “below the
Sphere.” As for the Outer Darkness, its name shows it to be a relic of
Pagan Egypt where it was held that beyond the confines of the earth, the
air became so thick as to be actually tangible and concrete. Among the
tormentors in these various hells we find Ariel, Pistis Sophia’s
persecutor Ialdabaoth, one “Iakhthanabas the Merciless” and the Dragon
of Outer Darkness who is depicted as a great serpent coiled round the
world having his tail in his mouth and containing places of torment
within him where ice and cold come to supplement the tortures of fire
and smoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account