The Naassene Fragment is a fragmentary text that survives only in a quotation in the third century book ''
Refutation of All Heresies
The ''Refutation of All Heresies'' (; ), also called the ''Elenchus'' or ''Philosophumena'', is a compendious Christian polemical work of the early third century, whose attribution to Hippolytus of Rome or an unknown " Pseudo-Hippolytus" is dispu ...
'' (5.7.2-9) by
Hippolytus of Rome
Hippolytus of Rome ( , ; Romanized: , – ) was a Bishop of Rome and one of the most important second–third centuries Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communitie ...
. According to Hippolytus, the Naassenes (from Hebrew ''nachash'', snake) were a
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
Ophite sect. Hippolytus condemns the group as in error, and offers a fragment of their writings, calling it a
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...
or
psalm
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of H ...
used by them. The fragment is considered part of the
New Testament apocrypha
The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cit ...
l tradition.
The fragment is written, like the rest of Hippolytus's work, in
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...
. Except for the first line, the work's
poetic meter
In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of ...
is in
anapest
An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consist ...
s, the most common form of verse in the Greek-speaking parts of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
.
Background
In the 2nd and 3rd century AD,
early Christianity
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...
was highly diverse set, as an agreed-upon canon had not yet been created. Many groups had their own favored writings, and even
proto-orthodox
The term proto-orthodox Christianity or proto-orthodoxy describes the early Christian movement that was the precursor of Christian Orthodoxy#Christianity, orthodoxy. Older literature often referred to the group as "early Catholic" in the sense th ...
local Christian groups might have access to only one gospel.
Gnosticism
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...
was one strain of early Christianity that competed in this period, although "gnosticism" itself is an umbrella term for many separate sects that might have considered themselves as having little in common with other sects called gnostic by later church historians. Later Orthodox writers sharply condemned Gnostics, and Gnosticism eventually faded.
The term "Naassene" is only seen in Hippolytus's writings and is probably not how they self-identified, so it is not known if they were a separate Gnostic group or an alternate term of another Gnostic group, nor if the fragment expresses ideas shared in common by many Gnostics or just the Naassenes.
Text
A translation of the fragment in ''New Testament Apocrypha'', whose English translation was edited by
R. McL. Wilson, with the aid of Walter Bauer's Greek to German translation:
An older 1906 translation by
G.R.S. Mead
George Robert Stow Mead (22 March 1863 in London – 28 September 1933 in London) was an English historian, writer, editor, translator, and an influential member of the Theosophical Society, as well as the founder of the Quest Society. His work ...
:
Analysis
In this document, reason and chaos, the intelligent and the material world, stand opposed. Between them is the human soul, belonging to both spheres, yet striving toward the higher and the spiritual. The soul is unable to ascend to the higher spheres by its own power; therefore, a heavenly being (in this fragment, Jesus Christ), in accordance with the will of the supreme principle or God, descends into the human world and redeems the soul by showing it the way through the spheres which sunder it from the divine world. It is not merely a thirst for knowledge that impels the Gnostics, but the pursuit of salvation, because the Gnostic's salvation depends on the possession of ''Gnosis'' respecting these things.
Like Gnosticism in general, the Ophites teach the existence of a Supreme Being, standing infinitely high above the visible world. This being is described as purely spiritual, the primal basis of all things, the starting-point of the cosmic process. His names are Father of the Universe, First Man, the "Uncreated," the "Unspeakable," the "Unapproachable God." He is self-evolving, and thus becomes the source of all being. The first products of this spontaneous evolution still belong to the purely spiritual spheres. The Ophitic theology tends to separate this supreme God into an ever-increasing number of separate entities. In the Naassene Fragment, only the Son is mentioned beside the Father; but a tetrad occurs among the Ophites of Irenaeus and the Naassenes; an entire decad among the ''Gnostici
Barbelo
Barbēlō (Greek: Βαρβηλώ) refers to the first emanation of God in several forms of Gnostic cosmogony. Barbēlō is often depicted as a supreme female principle, the single passive antecedent of creation in its manifold. This figure is al ...
''; while the
Nag Hammadi
Nag Hammadi ( ; ) is a city and Markaz (administrative division), markaz in Upper Egypt.
It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. The city had a population of close to 61,737 .
History
...
writings mention a countless host of higher beings. The Supreme Being's mode of evolution is set forth, sometimes as a generative process and sometimes as a psychological one. Frequently the two ideas are combined. Some pagan mythology lies obviously at the root of the matter: this would also account for their syzygial views, since the Ophites at least partly aimed to interpret the ancient myths as psychological processes. Against the Supreme Being stands chaos, the material principle. Yet there is no sharp dualism here. In the fragment, the phrase "the firstborn's emitted chaos" implies that it is derived from a higher being. Chaos is only an evil power or an active principle in a very few instances. It is not the existence of chaos which contradicts perfection, but rather the mixture of luminous parts with material elements. This mixture, in a word, is the great calamity, the loss that must be retrieved through redemption. How did this mixture come to pass? The fragment designates the soul, the principle of this compound, as the common product of mind and chaos. This agrees with the theory of the
Perates
The Perates or Peratae (, "to pass through"; Wikt:πέρας, πέρας, "to penetrate") were a Gnostic sect from the 2nd century AD. The ''Philosophumena'' of Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus is our only real source of information on their origin ...
and
Sethians
The Sethians (Greek: Σηθιανοί) were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd and 3rd century AD, along with Valentinianism and Basilideanism. According to John D. Turner, it originated in the 2nd century AD as a fusion of ...
, as mentioned by Hippolytus. These sects most nearly approach the dualistic scheme, yet the latter is not distinctly defined. In Justin, also, dualism is diminished.
Walter Bauer
Walter Bauer (; 8 August 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a German theologian, lexicographer of New Testament Greek, and scholar of the development of Early Christianity.
Life
Bauer was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, and raised in Marburg, ...
, citing
Richard Reitzenstein
Richard August Reitzenstein (2 April 1861, in Breslau – 23 March 1931, in Göttingen) was a German classical philologist and scholar of Ancient Greek religion, hermetism and Gnosticism. He is described by Kurt Rudolph as “one of the most st ...
, argues that the fragment was likely adapted from an originally pagan work but modified with Christian and Gnostic additions, perhaps by replacing references to
Attis
Attis (; , also , , ) was the consort of Cybele, in Phrygian and Greek mythology.
His priests were eunuchs, the '' Galli'', as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis castrating himself. Attis was also a Phrygian vegetation deity. Hi ...
(or whatever Greek or Roman god the hymn originally addressed) to
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
.
References
External links
*
Gnostic Society Library: The Naassene Fragment* {{wikisource-inline, Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume V/Hippolytus/The Refutation of All Heresies/Book V/Part 6, single=true, 1885 translation by
John Henry MacMahon
Agrapha of Jesus and apocryphal fragments
Anti-Gnosticism
3rd-century Christian texts