Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament (22 page)

minds did not see me, for they were deaf

the height, will not speak about the error

and blind. But in doing these things, they

which is here, nor transport itself from

render judgment against themselves.

these aeons, since it will be transported

As for me, on the one hand they saw

when it becomes a free person and expeme; they punished me. Another, their farience nobility in the world, standing bether, was the one who drank the gall and fore the Father without trouble and fear,

the vinegar; it was not I. They were hitalways mixed with the mind of ideal ting me with the reed; another was the

power. They will see me from every side

one who lifted up the cross on his shoulwithout hatred. For while they see me, der, who was Simon. Another was the

they are being seen, being mixed with

one on whom they put the crown of

them. As for me, since they did not put

thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height

me to shame, they were not shamed. As

over all the riches of the archons and the

for me, since they were not afraid before

offspring of their error and their conceit,

me, they will pass by every gate without

and I was laughing at their ignorance.

fear, and they will be perfected in the

And all their powers I brought into subthird glory. I was the one whose cross the jection. For when I came down no one

world did not accept, (my) apparent exsaw me. For I kept changing my forms altation, my third baptism in an apparent

above, transforming from appearance to

image, when they had fled from the fire of

appearance. And on account of this,

the seven authorities. And the sun of the

when I was at their gates I kept taking

powers of the archons set, darkness overtheir likeness. For I passed them by quitook them, and the world became poor.

etly, and I was viewing the places, and I

After they bound him with many redid not fear nor was I ashamed, for I was straints, they nailed him to the cross, and

undefiled. And I was speaking with them,

they fastened him with four nails of

mixing among them through those who

bronze. The veil of his temple he tore

are mine, and I tread on those who are

with his hands. There was a trembling

harsh to them jealously, and the fire I

that overcame the chaos of the earth, for

extinguished.

the souls which were in the sleep below

THE SECOND TREATISE OF THE GREAT SETH

85

were released, and they were resurrected.

worldly concerns and discarded worship,

They walked about boldly, having laid

being few (and) uninstructed.

aside jealousy of ignorance and unlear

They do not accept for themselves the

nedness beside the dead tombs, having

nobility of the truth, hating the one for

put on the new man, having come to

whom they exist and loving the one for

know that blessed and perfect one of the

whom they do not exist. For they did not

eternal and incomprehensible Father and

know the Gnosis of the Greatness, that it

of the boundless light, which I am. When

is from above and (from) the fountain of

I came to my own and joined them with

truth. And it is not from slavery and jealmyself, there was no need for many ousy and fear and love of worldly matter.

words, for our thought was with their

For that which is not theirs and that which

thought; on this account they understood

is theirs they use without fear and with

what I was saying, for we took counsel

freedom. They do not covet because they

concerning the destruction of the arhave authority and a law from themselves chons. And on this account I did the will

over the things which they would desire.

of the Father, which I am.

But those who do not have are poor,

When we went forth from our home,

namely, those who do not possess somewhen we came down to this world and thing and yet they desire it. And they lead

came into being in the world in bodies,

astray those who through them are like

we were hated and persecuted, not only

those who have the truth of their freedom,

(by) those who are ignorant, but by those

so as to constrain us under a yoke and

also who think that they are advancing

compulsion of concern and fear. This one

the name of Christ, since they are vain in

is in slavery. And this one who is brought

ignorance. They do not know who they

by compulsion of violence and threat has

are, like unreasoning beasts. Those who

been guarded by God. But the noble-born

were set free by me they persecute, since

one of the Fatherhood is not guarded,

they hate them—those who, if they shut

since he guards that which is his own by

their mouth, would weep with groaning

himself, without word or compulsion. He

without profit because they did not know

is united with his will, this one who is of

me completely. Instead, they served two

the thought alone of the Fatherhood, that

masters, even a multitude. But you (pl.)

(the Fatherhood) may become perfect

will be victorious in everything, in war

and unutterable through the living water,

and battles and schism of jealousy and

if it exists in wisdom among yourselves

anger. But in the uprightness of our love

not only in word of hearing but in deed

we are without deceit, pure, good, having

and fulfilled word.

the mind of the Father in an ineffable

For the perfect are worthy to be estabmystery. For it (the world) was a laughlished in this way. And they are joined ingstock. It is I who bear witness that it

with me in order that they may not share

was a laughingstock—since the archons

in any enmity. In a wholesome friendship

do not know that it is an ineffable union

I accomplish everything in the Good

of undefiled truth, like that which exists

One, for this is the joining of truth, that

among the children of the light, of which

they should have no adversary. But

they made an imitation, proclaiming the

everyone who causes division—and he

doctrine of a dead man and falsehoods to

will learn none of their wisdom because

resemble the freedom and purity of the

he causes division and is not a friend—

perfect assembly, uniting themselves in

he is an enemy to them all. But the one

their doctrine to fear and slavery and

who lives in agreement and friendship of

86

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

brotherly love by nature and not by dein order to know him, until they come to cree, wholly and not in part, this one is

know the Son of Man.

truly the will of the Father. This one is

But concerning my Father, I am the

the universal and the perfect love.

one whom the world did not know, and

For Adam was a laughingstock, and he

on this account, it rose up against me and

was created from the image of a pattern

my brethren. But we are innocent with reof a man by the Hebdomad, as though he spect to it; we did not sin. For the Archon

had become stronger than I and my brethwas a laughingstock because he said, “I ren. We are innocent with respect to him,

am God, and there is none greater than I.

since we did not sin. And Abraham was a

I alone am the Father, the Lord, and there

laughing stock, and Isaac and Jacob,

is no other beside me. I am a jealous God,

since they were given a name by the Hebbringing the sins of the fathers upon the domad, namely “the fathers from the imchildren for three and four generations,”3

age,” as though he had become stronger

as though he had become stronger than I

than I and my brethren. We are innocent

and my brethren. But we are innocent

with respect to him, since we did not sin.

with respect to him; for we did not sin.

David was a laughingstock since his son

Though we mastered his doctrine in this

was named the Son of Man, having been

way, he lives in conceit, and he does not

activated by the Hebdomad, as though he

agree with our Father. And thus through

had become stronger than I and the

our friendship we prevailed over his docfriends of my race. But we are innocent trine, since he is arrogant in conceit and

with respect to him; we did not sin. Soldoes not agree with our Father. For he omon was a laughingstock, since he

was a laughingstock with (his) judgment

thought that he was Christ, having beand false prophecy.

come arrogant through the Hebdomad, as

O those who do not see! You do not see

though he had become stronger than I and

your blindness that this is who was not

my brethren. But we are innocent with reknown. Neither did they ever know him, spect to him; I did not sin. The 12 prophnor did they understand him. Concerning ets were laughingstocks, since they have

him they would not listen to a valid recome forth as imitations of the true port. On this account they trained in a

prophets. They came into being from the

judgment of error, and they raised their

image of the Hebdomad, as though it had

defiled, murderous hands against him as

become stronger than I and my brethren.

if they were striking the air. And the

But we are innocent with respect to it,

senseless and the blind are senseless alsince we did not sin. Moses was a laughways, being slaves always of law and ingstock, a “faithful servant,” being

worldly fear. I am Christ, the Son of Man,

named “the friend”; they bore witness

the one from you (pl.) who is in you. I am

concerning him in iniquity, since he never

despised on your account, in order that

knew me. Neither he nor those before

you yourselves may forget what is

him, from Adam to Moses and John the

changeable. And do not become female,

Baptist, none of them knew me nor my

lest you give birth to their evils and kinbrethren. For a doctrine of angels is what dred things: to jealousy and schism, anarose through them, to keep dietary rules ger and wrath, fear and a divided heart

and bitter slavery. They never knew truth

and vain coveting which is not fulfilled.

nor will they know it, for there is a great

But I am an ineffable mystery to you. . . .

deception upon their soul, and they have

no ability to find a mind of freedom ever,

3Isa 45:5–6; Exod 20:5.

The Secret Gospel of Mark

The Secret Gospel of Mark is a longer edition of Mark’s Gospel that has been known only since 1958.1 While cataloguing manuscripts in the library of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba, located south-east of Jerusalem, an American scholar, Morton Smith, came upon a seventeenth-century edition of the letters of Ignatius. According to Smith’s own account,2

the final blank pages of this volume had been used by an eighteenth-century scribe to copy a portion of a letter allegedly from Clement of Alexandria, a church father who lived at the end of the second century and the beginning of the third. In this letter, Clement indicates that Mark had produced two versions of his Gospel, one for church members at large and the other for the spiritual elite who could grasp the full mysteries of the Kingdom.

Clement indicates that this second expanded edition, the so-called Secret Gospel, had been entrusted to the Christians of Alexandria, his own city, but that it had come to be misused by members of the Carpocratian sect, a group of Gnostic Christians known for their illicit sexual rituals.

Clement then narrates two of the accounts found in the Secret Gospel.

The contents of the stories, especially the first, show why this version of the Gospel could have seemed so dangerous to the church at large, and so interesting to the Carpocratians. Jesus raises a youth from the dead, who then loves Jesus and begs to be allowed to stay with him (the story is reminiscent of both the raising of Lazarus in John 11 and of the story of the “rich young man” of Matt 17:16–22 and Mark 10:17–31). After six days, the youth comes to Jesus in the evening, clothed with nothing but a linen garment over his naked body (cf. Mark 14:51). They spend the night together, with Jesus teaching the youth the mystery of the kingdom of God.

The highly unusual character of this story—in particular its homoerotic overtones—have led scholars to debate virtually every aspect of the

“Secret Gospel.” Did Clement of Alexandria actually write this letter, 1For a full account, which focuses to some extent on the question of whether or not the Secret Gospel, and the letter of Clement that contains it, were forged, see Ehrman,
Lost
Christianities
, 67–89. 2See
The
Secret
Gospel:
The
Discovery
and
Interpretation
of
the
Secret
Gospel
according
to
Mark
(New York: Harper & Row, 1973).